Resale retailer 2nd and Charles landing at Cross Country Plaza

2nd and Charles, a retailer that specializes in paying customers for used books, videos, music and other items, is landing in a key spot at Cross Country Plaza on Macon Road in Columbus.

The new tenant, headed for an early October opening, is locating in the roughly 20,000-square-foot spot vacated in July by Norfolk, Va.-based Freedom Stores Inc., which liquidated its Freedom Home & Electronics locations because of financial troubles.

In an interesting twist, 2nd and Charles is a division of Birmingham, Ala.-based Books-A-Million, which had occupied the same space from 1997 until 2011. It exited Cross Country Plaza and opened a much smaller location in Peachtree Mall, with that store closing earlier this year.

“We hated losing Books-A-Million in the first place. So we’re very thrilled to have them back,” Cross Country Plaza property manager Vickie Smith said Monday of the bookseller’s 2nd and Charles, which has nearly two dozen locations thus far after being launched in 2010.

Smith said another very visible spot in the center — the former Blockbuster Video space that went dark more than two years ago — also has a new tenant. Houston, Texas-based Mattress Firm, a large chain with a store already in Columbus, is setting up shop in about 4,000 square feet and should be open by early November, she said.

“We’re still working on several smaller spaces,” she said, including the storefront occupied by Radio Shack before its closure this year. “We don’t have anything signed yet. The only large space we’ve got is (15,000 square feet) in that corner where Hancocks (Fabrics) used to be years ago.”

Smith welcomes the newer 2nd and Charles concept, which also has Georgia stores in Athens, Augusta and Kennesaw. In Alabama, there are locations in Dothan and Hoover.

The basic concept invites customers to bring in their books, DVDs, CDs, vinyl records, comics, video games, game systems, iPads, iPods and eReaders. They drop them in bins at a counter, then take a number while the condition and value of the items are assessed by staffers. When their number is called, the value placed on the items is paid in cash or store credits.

Of course, as the donating customers are waiting for their goods to be checked out, they are encouraged to browse for purchases alongside non-donor shoppers.

Says the 2nd and Charles website: “Like magic. Turn your old books into an e-reader. Turn your old video games into new ones. Turn your CDs into vinyl records. Or turn it all into sweet, sweet stacks of crispy legal tender (a.k.a. “Cash”).”

The general contractor for improving the 2nd and Charles space in Columbus is Pennsylvania-based Rechtenwald Brothers Construction. A building permit issued July 30 shows Atlanta-based Coro Realty Advisors, the owner of Cross Country Plaza, spending $208,297 on construction. On Monday, a few crew members were at the store, with a work-flow list showing a current opening date of Oct. 8.

2nd and Charles appears to be a good fit for Cross Country Plaza and that stretch of Macon Road in general. Several retailers that have landed there in recent months fit neatly into the off-price category, including T.J. Maxx, Bealls Outlet, Ross Dress for Less and Dollar Tree. There’s also a Goodwill store at Cross Country and a Kmart anchoring Midtown Shopping Center across the street.

Cross Country Plaza was built in 1957 and is considered the city’s oldest shopping center. The 400,000-square-foot center is anchored by a Publix supermarket, OfficeMax T.J.Maxx and, as of October, 2nd and Charles. Coro Realty Advisors acquired the center from Glenwood Development Co. in June 2013, paying $36.6 million.

This story was originally published August 31, 2015 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Resale retailer 2nd and Charles landing at Cross Country Plaza ."