Retail Roundup: Bob's Stores location in Patchogue closing after long goodbye 

After what might be the longest store closing process in history, Bob’s Stores in Patchogue will shutter this month.

For more than a year, closing signs have been in the windows of the discount clothing and shoe store, which is the biggest tenant in Gateway Plaza, at 499 Sunrise Hwy. But now, the end appears to be near.

The store will close Jan. 11, a store employee said Monday. A sign hanging outside says “final days.”

Meriden, Connecticut-based Bob’s Stores did not respond to requests for comment about why the store is closing.

The Patchogue store occupies 51,357 square feet in Gateway Plaza, and the space is available for lease, according to the website of Pergament Properties, the Woodbury-based real estate firm marketing the 350,000-square-foot shopping center.

Other tenants in Gateway Plaza include Best Buy, Marshalls, HomeGoods, arts and crafts store Michaels and cosmetics store Ulta.

Pergament declined to comment.

Meriden-based Eastern Outfitters LLC, the former parent company of the Bob’s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports chains, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2017.  

In February 2017, there were 86 Eastern Outfitters and Bob’s Stores with 2,600 employees in the Northeast.

In April 2017, the Delaware Bankruptcy Court approved Sports Direct International PLC, a British retail group that recently changed its name to Frasers Group PLC, acquiring some of Eastern Outfitters’ assets, including 30 Bob’s Stores and 19 Eastern Mountain Sports, for $101 million.  

The court also approved Eastern Outfitters’ expedited plan to close 48 stores, including four Long Island locations — three Bob’s Stores, in East Northport, Selden and West Islip, and one Eastern Mountain Sports in Carle Place.  

But the Bob’s Stores in Selden and West Islip are still open.

There are 27 Bob’s Stores in the Northeast now, including the three on Long Island.

Sports Direct/Frasers Group did not respond to requests for comment.

Retail Roundup is a column about major retail news on Long Island — store openings, closings, expansions, acquisitions, etc. — that is published online and in the Monday paper. To read more of these columns, click here. If you have news to share, please send an email to Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish at tory.parrish@newsday.com.