With declining retail sales exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a Nittany Mall store is closing its doors at the end of 2020.
Bradley’s Book Outlet is planning to shutter all eight of its brick-and-mortar locations, owner Mike Paper said on Tuesday. The Pittsburgh-based company will continue operating its wholesale and online businesses, which Paper said remain strong.
‘The sales have been going down for several years [at the retail stores],’ Paper said. ‘The last few years they’ve been maybe breaking even, which is OK because there were other factors in keeping the stores open. They kept everybody employed. They kept the warehouse clean —we sent all our odds and ends to the stores. So I didn’t mind breaking even.
‘But ever since the virus hit, the malls that we’re in have been losing tenants and foot traffic. It reached the point where we’re just losing too much money.’
Paper and his father, Lawrence, founded Bradley’s Book Outlet in 1993 in Pittsburgh. Opened about four years ago, the State College location is the company’s newest and furthest east.
The eight stores currently employ about 50 people. Prior to the start of the pandemic, it was about 60, but several people did not return to work when the shops reopened.
‘I feel very sympathetic to the employees that have been with us for a long time so that’s the hardest part,’ Paper said. ‘I’m also very saddened for all the customers we’re going to be losing. We have so many loyal customers that that’s going to be a hard part too. Every time I go into a store I see faces that I’ve seen for years and years and that hits home too.’
A liquidation sale will begin Friday and continue through the end of the year. Paper said store closings will be staggered based on lease expirations and likely will continue into early 2021.
The company is also open to selling individual stores, Paper said.
‘Some of the stores remain profitable. Under an owner-operator they might be even more profitable,’ he said. ‘Just from our standpoint it wasn’t worth it.’
Bradley’s is at least the seventh business planning to leave the Nittany Mall this year. Macy’s, Express, Kay Jeweler and Victoria’s Secret have all closed in 2020, while Happy Wraps moved from the mall to downtown Bellefonte and Emporium Market moved to downtown State College.
