Streeterville Best Buy to close Nov. 2

(Published July 31, 2019)

In late July, the home electronics chain Best Buy announced they would not renew their lease at 875 N Michigan Ave. Best Buy has occupied the space since 2008 and the two-story store is the chain’s flagship location. The chain will not close its 31 remaining stores in Chicagoland. 

The Michigan Avenue store is 35,000 sq. feet. Large retail outlets have struggled in recent years. In 2018 Crate and Barrel left their 646 N. Michigan Ave. location, though a Starbucks roastery is still expected to open later this year. 

A spokesperson for the chain, Mathew Smith, said the downtown location had high rent and proved not to be as popular as other locations in the city. 

This location has one of the highest rents in our portfolio, even higher than most of our Manhattan stores,” said Smith. “Additionally, we’ve seen that most of our customers prefer to shop at one of our nearby stores like South Loop, North Avenue or Bucktown since parking is easier for big items like TVs and appliances.”

The store employs 35 people and management has said they hope to transfer those workers to other stores.