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CALCUTTA -- As Kmart begins the process of leaving its state Route 170 location, a new tenant already has plans for the building.
Busy Beaver -- a home improvement chain based in the Pittsburgh-area with a store in Weirton -- plans to open there by next summer.
"Calcutta is a wonderful (area) and we could not be more excited to have the opportunity to open a new store," said Joseph Kallen, chairman and CEO of Busy Beaver, via an e-mail received Wednesday, in response to a phone message left for him earlier this week.
Kallen said Busy Beaver is in the early stages of plans for a new store at 15891 state Route 170 and anticipates a July 2019 opening.
Sears Holdings, the parent company of Kmart and Sears, announced Monday an additional 142 Sears and Kmart stores, including the Calcutta location, will be shuttered by year's end after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following years of financial problems.
This latest round of closings followed a list of 46 stores, announced in August, that would be cease operations.
A year ago, Calcutta Realty Associates LLC of Oakmont, Pa., purchased the building, which Kmart leases from ELO Fields LLC, for $1.67 million.
Kallen, who also operates Calcutta Realty, said the agency purchased the building with plans to bring Busy Beaver to Calcutta once Kmart closed. The location, he said, is a good fit for his company.
Although plans are preliminary, Kallen said he looks to have the space by January. He added that while Busy Beaver plans to open its store by next summer, it may not be the only business occupying the space.
According to Kallen, Busy Beaver's store format is about 55,000 square feet. Since the Kmart building is 89,500 square feet, Kallen said this would open up the possibility of either one or two additional tenants in the building to take up the remaining 34,500 square feet.
"Since the announcement, we have received nine calls from tenants interested in opening stores in Calcutta," Kallen said. "The interested parties range from fitness to general merchandise to specialty retailers, all of which have national brand recognition."
The possibility of additional businesses joining Busy Beaver was met with a positive response from St. Clair Township Trustees James Hall and James Sabatini, both of whom have spoken with Busy Beaver representatives during the past year. They said that while it was disappointing that Kmart was leaving the area, they were also pleased to hear of the new potential in the building.
"We're certainly hoping to follow through on their plans to put the business in there so that we don't have an empty storefront," Hall said. "We're sorry to see Kmart go because they had been a part of our community for quite some time."
"I think people are looking for some new things to move into the area," Sabatini said. "The biggest challenge we have sometimes is finding a space to put them. So that would be excellent if he's got some irons in the fire. I know he's aggressive as far as his business strategies go, so I think it would be a positive for our area."
Busy Beaver has 21 locations throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and looks to expand to 26 stores by the end of 2019.
According to its website, Busy Beaver employs 400 at its 21 current locations.