The Real Deal: Michaels crafts 20K sf outlet

Retailer taking Breslin Realty space from departed TJ Maxx

Breslin Realty Development Corporation didn’t waste time replacing T.J. Maxx after the retailer vacated roughly 30,000 square feet at the Woodbury Shopping Center.

Arts and crafts retailer Michaels is filling 20,000 square feet of the vacancy at 410 South Oyster Bay Road in Hicksville, Newsday reported. The store is expected to open in mid-September, adding to the company’s nearly 1,300-store national portfolio, including more than a dozen outlets on Long Island.

The deal adds to the retailer’s moves elsewhere in New York. Michaels was behind one of Manhattan’s largest retail leases last year. The Texas-based chain renewed 32,000 square feet on the ground floor of GFP Real Estate’s 675 Sixth Avenue in Chelsea, where it has had a store since 2014.

In February, Michaels closed its doors at 187-04 Horace Harding Expressway at Fresh Meadows Place in Queens. Months later, Germany grocery chain Lidl signed a lease at that site to continue its New York City expansion.

Michaels is the second-largest arts and cra􀅌s retailer in the country by revenue, according to GlobalData, trailing only Hobby Lobby.

The rest of T.J. Maxx’s former space is being filled by discount retailer Five Below, which expects to open a 10,500-square-foot store at the start of December. Other retailers at the 87,000-square-foot shopping center include Staples, Walgreens and M&T Bank.

Terms of the Michaels were not available. Breslin Realty did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Real Deal.

The lease ends some store shuffling across South Oyster Bay Road on Long Island. After 25 years at the Woodbury Shopping Center, T.J. Maxx jumped across the street last October to Woodbury Plaza, which is technically in Plainview. The company took a space that was occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond.

— Holden Walter-Warner