As the future begins to look precarious for big-box bookseller Barnes & Noble, retail center owners who rely on the chain as a tenant might want to draw up contingency plans in case of potential store closings. To help industry members figure out which companies might be over-exposed to the bookseller, SNL Financial, a Charlottesville, Va.-based research firm, has released a list of REITs with a heavy concentration of Barnes & Nobles in their portfolios.
As of January, Simon Property Group housed the greatest number of Barnes & Nobles in the U.S. at 25 stores. Given the REIT’s vast size, however, any future closings would affect only 7.6 percent of its properties. On the other hand, with six Barnes & Noble stores but fewer total malls, PREIT might face a vacancy at 12.2 percent of its properties. And though American Realty Capital—Retail has only one Barnes & Noble in its portfolio, should that store close, it would affect half of the company’s retail holdings.
A complete chart is below:
