World Market out, Verizon in at North Pointe shopping center

It's a bad news/good news day for North Durham retail.

The bad news: A BCR reader reports that the World Market at North Pointe near Costco is closing in the next 2-3 months, and that liquidation of the store's inventory is underway. Our source reports that the South Durham store near the Streets at Southpoint is set to remain open.

The information appears to be corroborated by the leasing brochure at this web site, which shows an "available 18,443 sf" space where World Market currently sits.

(Incidentally, lest anyone think us heartless for the image at right -- it's from a web site called Brand Autopsy, which has asked the hypothetical of many brands. The comments there when the hypothetical was asked certainly mirror what many Durhamites may think -- that, indeed, they will be missed.)

It's the latest departure for that particular stretch of North Pointe, the southern side of the plaza nearest I-85. While Costco is swamped most of the time and Kroger, PetSmart and Home Depot all draw crowds, the big-box center across the street has lost several retailers in recent years.

Pier One Imports closed first, with Dollar Tree expanding to their larger space. Coastal Federal Credit Union also departed the center, a move announced earlier this year.

World Market earlier this year announced plans to close just under 10% of its stores and to exit eight media markets, though Durham wasn't hit in that round of closures.

Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross, and Shoe Carnival also remain in the center, along with a handful of eateries and the Mattress Firm.

In better news, the long-available outparcel further west at North Pointe, next to the IHOP and the Texas Roadhouse steak chain, is under construction at long last.

A couple of years back, plans were submitted for one "Maddie's Restaurant" and drive-thru on the site, but those look to have been scuttled, what with recent filings from September 2008 on listing a retail store for Verizon going on site.

Seemingly ironic, given yesterday's announcement that Verizon is giving up its landline business in Durham and the state -- save for the fact that, of course, wireless is now Verizon's big play.

Verizon Wireless currently has corporate-owned retail outposts at Southpoint and New Hope Commons. A "Verizon Plus" retail store focused on landline and broadband service is still located at Northgate, while a Verizon Wireless authorized retailer also has a small space in the mall.

The outparcel site at North Pointe went under construction in recent weeks.

Comments

[TSQ75]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I frikkin LOVE World Market!

This is heartbreaking for me...ugh.

But here's to liquidation shopping *sigh*

[Jessica]

I hate that!! This location was the perfect lunch break outing for me.

[South where?]

Southpoint . . . that's the southern Durham region that was previously rural and is a now heavily suburbanized and strip mauled region much of which is going to be retro-fitted with expensive storm water controls to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars coming from the Durham city budget in order to lessen pollution to the drinking water reservoir, a reservoir that has been down there and in use for quite some time, well at least pre-Southpoint... is that right?

[Fayzo]

Why is new construction in the out-parcel "better news"? Seems there are enough vacancies in existing buildings...

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

I think 18K sq ft is big enough for a Trader Joe's, though they might prefer not to compete with Costco across the street.

Then they'd need high rise residential development, so I could move in and live car-free.

[weege]

I went to World Market over the weekend and was sad to see the red & yellow "everything must go" clearance signs in the windows. A manager told me that their lease was up for renewal and they had been out-bid by another company. Fortunately, all the WM employees are being absorbed by other locations and nobody will be out of a job.

If what the manager told me is true, then I'm hoping that the out-bidder is Trader Joe's.

[GreenLantern]

It's no surprise that North Durham will suffer loss of retail, as most upper income folks have been moving south, along with new and proposed schools....it will only get worse if the school board gets its way.

BTW, I just heard today that the downtown Johnson Chrysler Jeep dealer is on the chopping block...it will not re-open at SouthPoint

[Tar Heelz]

@South where?

While your post is entirely off topic, what are these "expensive stormwater controls" that Southpoint and the neighboring Crossings have been able to avoid? The entire area has been constructed since 2001.

[ADP]

Did anyone notice what the discounts are currently like?

[Michael Bacon]

Tar Heelz: Due to an oversight in the stormwater palnning, a wide swath of Durham, essentially from Downtown-south, was able to build without any stormwater controls for a span of about 15 years. This was discovered recently in the attempt to clean up Jordan Lake, and is now looking like it's going to cost the City of Durham a huge chunk of change.

[barry]

dammit Kevin. i was keeping this a secret until after the discounts got to 75% off.

right now at "up to" 30% the patio furniture is still too expensive.

[Visconti]

I too loved going to World Market in North Pointe and will miss it. I will not be traveling across town to another location so I'll stick to One World Market and Costco.

If Trader Joe's opens in Durham, unfortunately it will probably be in south Durham unless they manage to find something near Whole Foods. I think that if some of these companies made the decision to move north of I-85, they would find more customers than they imagine. Driving nearly half an hour to go to Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill is too long and a waste of gas.