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Gurnee approves $500,000 incentive plan to help bring Hobby Lobby to Gurnee Mills

Hobby Lobby will be one of three new tenants to occupy the space once used by Sears at Gurnee Mills mall after the Gurnee village board approved an incentive package worth up to $500,000 to defray the cost of renovations.

Under the plan approved Monday, Simon Property Group, the company that owns Gurnee Mills, will invest $2.5 million into carving the existing 200,000 square feet of space into three smaller spaces. Hobby Lobby will occupy a 55,000 square foot section which will not be accessible to shoppers from the mall's interior.

By April 30, 2022, the village will pay Simon the first of five annual payments of $100,000. The size of the payments might be less if Simon's construction costs are lower than $2.5 million.

Outgoing Mayor Kristina Kovarik said the plan has been in the works for a while.

"I think I talked to all the trustees about this a year and a half ago and we thought we might've lost it to the pandemic, but it's back," Kovarik said at Monday's board meeting. "This is going to be huge for that spot, this is a really good move for the Mills and for us."

Randy Ebertowski, the general manager of Gurnee Mills, said splitting up the Sears site was the way to go.

"We already have one spot filled and have leads on filling the other two as well," Ebertowski said. "There is pent-up energy with retailers wanting to come to Gurnee Mills and sign leases."

Gurnee Economic Development Director Ellen Dean said Simon wants to start construction in May and Hobby Lobby would like to be open in time for the holidays.

Dean noted that the two closest Hobby Lobby locations are in Round Lake Beach and Kenosha since the Vernon Hills location was moved to Niles. She said she thinks there will be demand in the region for the store.

"I think it will produce foot traffic we might not have picked up otherwise," Dean said, noting that the mall's Hobby Lobby should be larger than most locations.

There are more than 900 Hobby Lobby locations nationwide.

The Sears at Gurnee Mills opened in the spring of 2004. According to Daily Herald reports at the time, then-Bears Quarterback Rex Grossman was on hand at the store's opening ceremony. Initially the store was called Sears Grand, the second of five superstore-style locations the company was trying out, and was twice as large as a normal Sears. The store featured extra-wide aisles, which Sears referred to as "boulevards."

The location closed in 2018.

John Starks, 2004Sears opened at Gurnee Mills in 2004. This week the village agreed to an incentive plan that will help the mall's owners to rehab the massive former Sears into three smaller locations. Hobby Lobby will be the first store to open.
John Starks, 2004Sears opened at Gurnee Mills in 2004. This week the village agreed to an incentive plan that will help the mall's owners to rehab the massive former Sears into three smaller locations. Hobby Lobby will be the first store to open.
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