Here are the stores replacing closed Bed, Bath & Beyond, Tuesday Morning and others in OKC
When a door closes, it usually opens again into a new store, restaurant or other venue, if it's that kind of property. That kind is retail, and most of the stores that closed their doors in Oklahoma City last year are back open as something new, spiffed up with new paint and finish.
Gone are national chain stores Bed, Bath & Beyond and Tuesday Morning, and some Party City and David’s Bridal stores, among others.
Here's some of what has replaced them, or soon will.
New stores in the Oklahoma City metro area
The following stores are open, or soon to open, in spaces vacated last year in the Oklahoma City area, according to OKC commercial real estate firm Price Edwards & Co.
Crunch Fitness bought the former Homeland at 12508 N May Ave.
Burlington replaces Bed, Bath & Beyond at Parkway Plaza in Norman.
Burlington replaces Office Depot at Westgate Marketplace, Interstate 40 and S MacArthur Blvd.
Painted Door takes part of the former Hemispheres space at Fritts Farm in Moore.
Possible but unannounced stores to replace Bed, Bath and Beyond at French Market at NW 63 and May Avenue, and Tuesday Morning at Edmond Crossing, 33rd Street and Broadway Avenue in Edmond.
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Also, a Burlington has leased space for a new store at Rockwell-Northwest Shopping Center at Northwest Expressway and N Rockwell Avenue, according to property owner JAH Realty LP.
"Most of the closures from national bankruptcies have either already been back-filled or deals are in process. Party City and David’s Bridal also kept a number of their stores open," said Jim Parrack, senior vice president and retail specialist with Price Edwards.
Tuesday Morning, Party City bankruptcies landed a one-two punch on this Oklahoma City shopping center
Rockwell-Northwest Shopping Center saw nearly a fourth of its 154,700 square feet of space vacated when Tuesday Morning and Party City filed for bankruptcy and closed stores, said Jeff Norman, president of JAH Realty LP.
"We got hit with a 'double whammy' when both Tuesday Morning and Party City filed bankruptcy. Unfortunately for us, those two stores were side by side in our shopping center, so we lost about 37,000 square feet of retailers in one shot," he said.
Burlington quickly leased much of the space, about 20,000 square feet. Also, Cava, a Mediterranean eatery, leased space that had been a Five Guys restaurant. Rockwell-Northwest, anchored by a Hobby Lobby, also has Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, B Sew Inn, Qdoba, Wing Stop, and Mercy Go Health.
"We were pleased with the large amount of interest from national retailers to locate on Northwest Expressway,” said Elise Lopez, vice president of leasing for JAH Realty. “Burlington will draw a soft goods shopper to this center, which we have not had before.
"We believe the synergy between Burlington and Hobby Lobby will create a dynamic combination of traffic and demographics for the property. Burlington is widely recognized as one of the top retailers in their category."
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Party City, David’s Bridal, Tuesday Morning closures and others left OKC retail vacancy higher to start 2024, Price Edwards says
The mix of store and restaurant openings and closings left OKC retail space for lease somewhat higher at the start of this year compared with the start of 2023, Price Edwards reported in its year-end property market summary.
"Vacancy ended the year at 8.9 percent, up from 8.5 percent at the end of last year. Most of the uptick in vacancy was either space coming onto the market from bankruptcies — Tuesday Morning, Party City, David’s Bridal — or some small tenant closures in older centers," the firm reported.
Price Edwards saw some stress fractures in the market.
Haves and have-nots among stores and restaurants show a growing split in the OKC retail property market, firm says
"There is a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots in Oklahoma City retail both in terms of vacancy and rent," Price Edwards reported. "If you dig into the numbers, newer, well-located centers are almost all 95 percent occupied or above. Rents on new construction, particularly restaurants, can reach $40 per square foot or more.
"Conversely, older centers who are not as well located have seen some slippage in occupancy and little improvement in rent over the past few years. While the local economy has held up well on an aggregate basis, there is significant uncertainty which tends to hurt smaller, local tenants more than national tenants."
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About those closed restaurants: It's not just because of rising rents in most cases, Parrack said.
"Restaurants open and close all the time for a lot of different reasons, and our recent closures are no different," he said. "Pandemic relief payments propped up a number of restaurants that would’ve closed in 2020 through 2022 without the relief. As a result, we are now seeing a higher volume of failures.
"Typically rent isn’t the primary cause, its more typically poor management, poor concepts, changing consumer tastes or, on the expense side, labor issues or food costs."
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Senior Business Writer Richard Mize has covered housing, construction, commercial real estate and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com since 1999. Contact him at rmize@oklahoman.com. Sign up for his weekly newsletter, Real Estate with Richard Mize. You can support Richard's work, and that of his colleagues, by purchasing a digital subscription to The Oklahoman. Right now, you can get 6 months of subscriber-only access for $1.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: New stores refill OKC Bed, Bath & Beyond, Tuesday Morning, Party City
