by Chris Cannon
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Pottery Barn announced it will open a store in Green Hills, while two major retailers made it known they will closes hundreds of stores.
Pottery Barn will occupy a new building at the Hill Center on Hillsboro Pike with a 12,684 square foot store. It will anchor an expansion of the popular lifestyle center.
Bank of America, which currently occupies the area where the expansion will happen, will relocate to a new location on Richard Jones Road.
Construction for the redevelopment is planned to start in early 2015, and Pottery Barn will begin construction of its store in the fall of 2015.
While Pottery Barn announced expansion plans, two major national retailers made it know they will cut the number of stores they operate.
Earlier in the week, Radio Shack said it would close up to 1,100 stores, or 20 percent of its locations. Thursday, Staples said it would shutter 225 of its locations, or 12 percent of its stores.
"People fundamentally don't see a need to shop in those kinds of stores, like they once did," explained Lipscomb University associate professor Andrew Borchers.
The change for Staples came after the company's business model changed.
"As customers shift online, we are taking aggressive action to right-size our retail footprint," said Staples spokesperson Carrie McElwee.
Staples operates five locations in Middle Tennessee. Neither Staples, or Radio Shack, have announced which of its stores will close.
"Radio Shack will maintain market coverage as part of this plan, with more than 4,000 U.S. stores in the RadioShack footprint," according to a Radio Shack spokesperson.
Borchers said the electronics retailer, along with stores like Sears and KMart have not transitioned with today's consumer.
"They did not change format quickly enough, they didn't understand their buyers well enough, in some cases their locations weren't the ideal locations, and they simply didn't keep up with the times," said Borchers.
KMart recently closed its Nolensville Pike location in Nashville. It will shutter its Franklin location sometime in May.
Sears announced last year it would close its Cool Springs Galleria location. A spokesperson said the store will shut its doors in early June.
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