The Glik’s store in St. Clair Square will close later this month following an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a new lease with the mall operator.
In addition to the rent issue, Glik’s was not happy with its mall location.
“We’re more of a younger concept that needs to be more centrally located instead of at one end (of the mall),” said Jim Glik, a company vice president.
The St. Clair Square store, which will close March 20, is one of four ‘Glik’s Edge’ stores that offer streetwear fashions.
Glik’s has 53 stores in the Midwest. The rest of the stores are either full-line stores offering women’s and men’s fashions or more suburban style formats that offer junior women’s and young men’s fashions.
At the end of last year, Glik’s also closed a store in Waterloo and another in Indiana.
But the big picture story is not about store closings. Jeff Glik, the retailer’s president, said the last three years have been among the best ever and that sales continue to increase about 2 percent a year.
While closing underperforming stores, the chain opened four new stores in South Dakota last year. And it plans to open four more stores later this year.
Jeff Glik said the chain has done better than rivals partly because of its strategy to locate in small towns that are 45 minutes to an hour away from a major city.
“Small town America has held up far better than the big cities,” he said.