Another anchor to close

The Bob’s Store in the South Brunswick Square Mall is getting ready to close its doors.

By: Joseph Harvie
   The Bob’s Store in the South Brunswick Square Mall on Route 1 is closing, but no one will say when.
   According to several banners and signs on the clothing store, the store is getting ready to close and all items are going to be on sale for 30 percent off the ticketed price.
   Employees at the store said they do not know when the store is closing, and phone calls to the Bob’s Store corporate headquarters in Meriden, Conn., were not returned before the South Brunswick Post’s deadline.
   In addition, a phone call to WP Realty, the owners of the mall, only revealed that there are no plans for the Bob’s Store location because Bob’s is still responsible for the remainder of its lease.
   The store opened in late 2005 and is one of several businesses to move out of 50,000 square-foot stand-alone building on the north end of the mall lot.
   Prior to Bob’s Store moving in, the building had been occupied by Bloomingdale’s Discount Furniture Center. The building was originally home to a Channel Home Center and was replaced by a Rickel Home Center. Both of those chains went out of business in the mid-1990s.
   The loss of Bob’s continues the trend of anchor stores closing in the South Brunswick Square Mall over the years.
   At the main section of the mall, Jamesway, which closed in 1993, was the first of two anchor stores to close. After remaining vacant for seven years, the storefront was expanded and Stern’s department store opened in November 2000. It became a Macy’s in spring 2001. Federated Department Stores, which owned both Stern’s and Macy’s, closed all of its New Jersey Stern’s stores. Macy’s closed in January 2003.
   That location is now the site of a Home Depot, which has been open since November 2005.