Gurnee Mills will eventually have two new tenants moving into an anchor location — Primark, an international fashion retailer, and California-based Boot Barn, a boot and Western apparel store — after an agreement was reached Monday with the village of Gurnee.
The two stores will move into a space previously occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond. The department store shuttered all of its brick-and-mortar locations within the past few years, with the Gurnee Mills location closing on Jan. 8, 2023. Since then, the 60,000-square-foot space has sat vacant.
The former Bed Bath & Beyond site will be divided into two retail locations for the new tenants, but the renovation costs will total nearly $12 million, according to Simon Property Group, the real estate investment trust that owns the mall.
The village of Gurnee will contribute up to $2 million toward the redevelopment through a series of rebates.
During the meeting, the board unanimously approved an ordinance agreeing to fund either 18% or up to $2 million of the project’s eventual costs. The rebates will take place over six years. For the first six years after construction is complete, the village will receive $200,000 of sales tax from the mall, and then rebate everything after that, to help cover Gurnee Mills’ construction costs.
After the six years, the village will retain all of the sales tax generated from the mall, which is estimated to bring in $500,000 each year.
The mall could use the village’s rebates to cover the cost of demolition of the former Bed Bath & Beyond space, the construction of the two storefronts, interior and exterior finishes, dry and wet utilities, HVAC, roofing, a fire alarm system and sprinklers.
Boot Barn, which is already a tenant in the mall, will occupy approximately 16,000 square feet of the renovated space, which is almost two times larger than the space it’s currently housed in. Primark will occupy the other 44,000 square feet, and the village, as well as Simon Property Group, are expecting the store to bring increased foot traffic to the mall.
“[This] further elevates the center’s status as a shopping destination, with a new tenant that has a limited footprint in this country, in Illinois, in the region, and therefore will draw from quite a distance,” said Ellen Dean, the village’s economic development director.
Primark is one of the leading international clothing retailers, but out of its more than 400 stores, only 24 are in the United States, with just two in Illinois.
“I’m super-excited to see Primark come here,” village Trustee Quin O’Brien said. “I was at the opening of the one at Woodfield [Mall in Schaumburg].”
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The Boot Barn location will also be a “regional draw,” according to Dean, because although the store has locations in 44 states, there are only two additional locations in Illinois: Crystal Lake and Springfield.
“The combined revenue projected to be generated from this newly renovated space will far exceed the prior levels,” Dean said.
Before the Village Board’s meeting, the board held a public hearing about the potential contribution. While no Village residents spoke at the meeting, the board did hear from Jocelyn Gubler, the vice president of development at Simon Property Group, who spoke about the positive impact that both stores will have on the mall.
“Bricks-and-mortar has never been more valued and important in our communities than it is right now,” Gubler said. “E-commerce has a critical place, but what we’ve seen throughout a global pandemic is the value that people place in coming together as a community.
“We’re very, very excited, and we’re always happy to bring more retail to Gurnee Mills,” she said.
The space will be renovated, and the stores will be open by the end of 2026.