Belk is in its final days of operation at Roosevelt Square.
The department store will close when it sells out of merchandise, probably this weekend or by Jan. 12, said spokeswoman Jessica Graham at the Charlotte, N.C., headquarters.
Pickings were slim Tuesday. A few small racks of men’s and women’s clothing remained at 90 percent off.
There also were a few coats, a small display of costume jewelry, some bedding, several plates and other items.
Fixtures, shelving, racks and mannequins were grouped and tagged for their next store. Signs posted directions for buyers on when to retrieve them.
The Duval County Tax Collector permit allowed the going-out-of-business sale to run for 60 days from Nov. 13 through Jan. 13.
Belk’s address is 4535 Roosevelt Blvd. Roosevelt Square, at southeast Roosevelt Boulevard and San Juan Avenue.
Belk’s closing allows property owner Dewberry Capital Corp. of Atlanta to redevelop the site. Dewberry has not responded to calls about a site plan that shows a reconfigured shopping center.
That plan, dated April, shows Stein Mart would move from the northern side of the center, near San Juan Avenue, to a new building that would be developed at the Belk site.
Belk is 63,000 square feet. The site plan shows a 35,000-square-foot Stein Mart fronted by several smaller stores.
Linda Tasseff, Stein Mart Inc. director of investor relations, said the company has not completed plans with the landlord about the Roosevelt Square store.
She said Stein Mart intends to stay in the center, although the existing 46,000-square-foot store it occupies is larger than its typical footprint of 32,000 to 35,000 square feet.
Roosevelt Square, now about 227,000 square feet, would be increased to about 344,500 square feet, based on that site plan.
Publix Super Markets would remain an anchor tenant at the square, too.
Spokesman Dwaine Stevens said there are no plans to expand the footprint of the store.
The site plan does not identify all of the existing tenants nor does it indicate whether they would be moved within a redeveloped center.
Belk said in July it would close the store, affecting 52 jobs, after evaluating its business plans and competitive position in the area market.
Graham said then its lease was coming to an end there.
That Belk was one of five in the market. The others are at The Avenues and Orange Park malls; the Ponce de Leon Mall in St. Augustine; and in Atlantic North, which opened as the Regency Square Mall Belk closed.
Roosevelt Mall, as it was initially called, was built in 1961. Dewberry Capital bought it in 1997 and redeveloped the center, saying it was under “highly distressed circumstances.”
Dewberry “de-malled” the property for conversion in phases into an open-air lifestyle center, anchored by Publix and Stein Mart, along with many more tenants.
The Belk building, then a Gayfers store, was converted into a standalone retailer. Belk opened there in 1998.
A new Publix was built and the former one converted for Stein Mart.
Dewberry says on its dewberrycapital.com site that its revitalization efforts had a dramatic impact on the surrounding community.”
It also says the Publix there is one of the highest-grossing stores in the chain.
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