The storefront formerly occupied by Buckeye Books, located at 2060 N. High St. in the Ohio Stater Shopping Center. The bookstore closed Fall Semester. Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor

The storefront formerly occupied by Buckeye Books, located at 2060 N. High St. in the Ohio Stater Shopping Center. The bookstore closed Fall Semester.
Credit: Shelby Lum / Photo editor

The empty spaces left by three former High Street bookstores might soon have new occupants.

Buckeye Books, formerly located at 2060 N. High St. in the Ohio Stater Shopping Center, closed during Fall Semester.

Sue Clark, manager of the Ohio Stater, which owns the space Buckeye Books occupied, said she couldn’t disclose what might take that spot while discussions are taking place.

“Every time I talk to someone, it’s normally a restaurant,” Clark said.

Clark said she expects a new business will fill the space by either summer or Fall Semester 2014.

Jill Kanney, a first-year in biomedical engineering, said she’d be happy to see a restaurant move in.

“I’d like to see a restaurant (in one of the vacant spots) because with books, everything’s going toward online. It’s more efficient for buying books to just go to one place like Barnes and Noble,” Kanney said.

Other students, though, said they’d rather have another textbook store occupy the space.

“I’d prefer to see another bookstore in (Buckeye Books’ former spot) over a restaurant. I went to (Buckeye Books) a couple times,” said Holly Rankin, a third-year in economics. “It would show a little more diversity in this rough economy. We have enough restaurants.”

Rankin added she’d also like to see a kitchen appliance or electronics store in one of the closed spots.

College Town, located at 1770 N. High St., vacated its space Jan. 31. Plans are in the works for a business to take over the space it left, said Brian Wade, the director of property management at RS Garek Associates Ltd., the real estate firm that owns the building.

“At this point, we are in negotiations with a business. If we can come to terms, I would guess that we might have a contract in four weeks,” Wade said in an email Feb. 24.

Wade said in an email Wednesday there were no updates on the situation.

University Book Exchange, located at 10 E. 15th Ave., closed Jan. 31. A representative from Pella Company, the real estate firm that owns the space, said the company could not provide comment because legal matters regarding tenants are kept private.

Ahmed Al-akash, a second-year in chemistry, said he hopes another textbook store moves into one of the empty spaces to help keep prices low.

“I’d like to see more bookstores (in the vacant spots) because it’d be better for competition. It’d give students more options,” he said.

 

Karlie Frank contributed to this article.