Rockport says bye-bye Best Buy
By Allison Pritchard
Rocky River
Published Feb. 25, 2009

After previously signing a letter of intent, it now looks like Best Buy won’t be the saving grace to fill the large vacancy at Rocky River’s Rockport’s shopping plaza after all.

Because of the economy and layoffs at the corporate office, Best Buy is reconsidering the Rockport location, Kory Koran, director of economic and community development, said.

One of the reasons the company is backing out is that since Circuit City closed, all of those prime locations are now available, and Best Buy may eye those in the future. As of now though, Best Buy doesn’t plan to look at any former Circuit City spots (which have prime move-in conditions) or new locations until the economy improves, he said.

Although Rockport suffers, the rest of Rocky River is doing relatively well, with low unemployment and rising property values, Koran said at the Feb. 16 council meeting during his economic and community development director’s report.

“The only significant vacancies we have are in Rockport,” Koran said. However, “We can’t fool ourselves. We are in the midst of a very serious economic recession and there are going to be stores closing…We are not immune from the global economic woes.”

As of now, there are no other stores interested in the location, Koran said. Rockport will be sitting for a while, he added. “Everyone is cutting back,” he said. “I’d be totally surprised if anything happens [to fill the vacant Rockport location] between 18 months to two years,” he said.