Speculation over a new retailer is swirling around the site of the former Prices Corner Sears store.
The store located west of Wilmington closed in 2018, with a Sears Auto Center remaining in operation.
Rumors on retailers have centered around Target and Lowe’s.
A Lowe’s spokesman stated that the company has no plans for the site. A Target representative did not respond to an Email request. The two companies are often rumored to be possible occupants of former Sears store locations.
Deborah M. Houston of The Robbins Companies, owner of the Prices Corner Shopping Center, said she had nothing to share regarding a new occupant for the site.
Interior demolition appears to be taking place at the former Sears store
The open-air Prices Corner center has been affected by what some are calling the retail apocalypse. Tenants in addition to Sears that have exited the center include Payless Shoe Source and more recently Dress Barn. Payless has closed all of its store and Dress Barn is doing the same.
Prices Corner is anchored by a JC Penney store. Discount clothing retailer Gabe’s is a more recent addition.
The Prices Corner area has felt the effects of a changing economy that included 2009 closing of the GM Boxwood assembly plant. Demolition is now underway at Boxwood with plans calling for a logistics complex.
The center of gravity has been shifting toward the Christiana Mall area, which now has Christiana Fashion Center, an open-air fashion and power center.
The Prices Corner area has been without a lumber-home improvement retailer since the departure of the Hechinger’s and Channel chains decades ago. The Prices Corner area does have a hardware store.
Lowe’s has a store about seven miles away in the Minquadale area near DuPont Highway.
Target has stores at Christiana Mall and the Brandywine Town Center off Concord Pike. It was reportedly unsuccessful in an effort to build a store near Newark. Walmart has a store a short distance away from Prices Corner in the Boxwood area.
