Stein Mart: Poor performance led to Deerfield store closing

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Updated: March 3, 2012 8:33AM

Stein Mart, which occupied a center spot at Deerfield’s Cadwell Corners shopping center for five years until the end of 2011, left because the store was not performing up to expectations.

Stein Mart Chief Financial Officer Greg Kleffner said there wasn’t enough traffic there to keep the store afloat, although it sat kiddy corner to Deerbrook Mall, a busy, 130-acre shopping center on the southwest corner of Lake Cook and Waukegan roads.

“The only stores that we close are those that are not doing well economically. And that one was not,” Kleffner said.

“We would still like to be in the general trade area of the North Shore. That store just wasn’t working for us,” he added.

Kleffner wasn’t sure how many employees were put out of work by the store’s closing, because efforts were made to transfer associates to other stores in the area. Stein Mart’s website lists the closest in Kildeer, at 20771 North Rand Road.

The Stein Mart that was at the Cadwell corners site filled about 35,000 square feet, which is typical of other stores in the chain, Kleffner said.

“Chicago is a market where we certainly want more stores. It was not a market issue at all,” he said.

The leaving of Stein Mart and Honquist Furniture Outlet Plus at the end of last year has left the 79,774-square-foot Cadwell Corners shopping center looking like a ghost town.

Only the Calico Corners fabric shop, 11 Waukegan Road, the Accelerated Rehabilitation Center, 43 N. Waukegan Road, and Chicago Home Fitness, 57 N. Waukegan Road, occupy the multi-shop center now.

Six stores ranging from 1,768 square feet to 22,167 square feet were available with negotiable leases before the anchor stores left, according to the shopping center’s website.

Stein Mart, which was at 35 N. Waukegan Road, had moved into its site in 2005. It offered current-season, brand name fashion for women and men, as well as accessories, home decor, linens and shoes, at up to 60 percent below department store prices, the website said.

Honquist opened its 22,000-square-foot facility nearby with fanfare at 7 N. Waukegan Road in September of 2010, but stayed little more than a year.

Kathy LeVeque, assistant village planner, noted that the village could do little to help fill the empty spaces besides making it known they are available and providing contact information for the leasing agents.