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Barrington's Learning Express Toy Store to Close Today

The store is holding a consolidation sale of 60-90 percent off.

 

Another store at the Ice House Mall is calling it quits.

Learning Express toy store is closing today and consolidating the store with the Lake Zurich location. The store is offering a final sale of 60-90 percent off today only.

In an email to customers, the company said:

“Thank you customers who shopped the Barrington store. We will serve you in Lake Zurich (Rt 12 & 22 Near Dominick's) like we have for 16 years. Look for our new opportunity in the future.”

Barrington Patch called Learning Express owner Rick Derr twice and also sent emails to the company that have all been unreturned.

Derr did speak to 365Barrington.com, and told them the store lost its “neighborhood” with the closure of several other stores in the mall.

Barrington Home Shoppe, Peter Daniel and Dear Books have all left the mall in recent months.

In an April interview with Barrington Home Shoppe owner Rusty Hernandez, he said lack of customer support and community knowledge about the Ice House Mall contributed to his store’s closure. He did say the Ice House Mall’s owner was very helpful to him and he was pleased with his experience there overall.

It’s unclear if new businesses will move into these vacancies in the near future.

Related Topics: Business, Learning Express, and Toys

Jay Prassel

7:06 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012

It's very sad to see these stores closing.

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Morgan Delack

11:47 am on Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Jay, I agree. There have been many in Barrington over the past couple of years.

John S

1:44 pm on Wednesday, August 29, 2012

We live in McHenry county and my family likes the Learning Express, but we intentionally go to the LZ store to avoid the Barrington traffic. We try to avoid shopping in Barrington whenever we can.

I don't know what the village's leaders can do, but I really think it is hurting the village. The NIMBY attitude is not going to make the problem go away.

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