Woodridge Shopping Centers: Where the Empty Storefronts Are

Empty storefronts.

They're a sign of turnover, of businesses coming and going. In recent years, their prevalence has been a sad reminder of a tough economy.

Woodridge has 19 shopping centers and an overall retail vacancy rate of 5.6 percent, according to village officials.

That rate can range from 0 percent to 51.08 percent across Woodridge. Where are the empty storefronts? Which centers are keeping storefronts occupied?

Get a look at all 19 shopping centers, their locations and vacancy rates through this gallery.

See the centers with no vacancies here.

Check out the five shopping centers with the highest vacancies rates here.

Some of the trends we found are below.

Woodridge's largest shopping centers have low vacancy rates

Woodridge's largest shopping centers are keeping storefronts filled, according to data from the village's community development office.

From a list of Woodridge's 19 shopping centers, four of the five largest centers had some of the lowest vacancy rates in July 2011. Since shopping centers aren't always referred to by their officlal names, we've included major businesses in the center to identify them.

They're arranged in size:

Official name

Businesses include...

Vacancy rate

Total square feet

Available square feet

Centerpointe of Woodridge

,

3.44%

472,737

16,254

Woodgrove Festival

,

2.26%

265,007

6,000

Westwood Centre

0 %

215,647

0

Main Street at Seven Bridges

,

18.64%

67,251

12,534

Woodward Boughton Commerical Center

Goodwill, ,

2.68%

62,610

1,680

Five shopping centers had no vacancies in July. Four of the centers in the chart posted the next-lowest numbers.

The exception to this trend was Main Street on Seven Bridges, one of Seven Bridges' two shopping centers.

Shopping centers in certain areas of Woodridge have similar vacancy rates

Three groups emerged in which shopping centers located near one another had similar vacancy rates.

The three centers in the Seven Bridges/Route 53 area was one group. There are two shopping centers in Seven Bridges. Main Street on Seven Bridges was 18.64 percent empty in July.

Seven Bridges' other center, The Center on Seven Bridges Drive, was 16.6 percent empty. Nearby Hobson Road Plaza was 17.93 percent empty.

Along 75th Street between Janes Avenue and Woodward Avenue, three shopping centers also had comparable rates.

Green Ridge Shopping Center (think ) was 8.45 percent empty. Meadow Green Plaza (think ) was 9.38 percent empty. To complete the trio, Woodridge Plaza (think and ) was 11.3 percent empty.

Finally, three of the shopping centers with no empty storefronts were located right next to one another: Dairy Queen Plaza, Convenience Center () and Woodward Center ( and ).

It should be noted that shopping centers in Woodridge fluctuate in size from 6,900 square feet to 472,737 square feet. An empty storefront in a smaller shopping center increases its vacancy rate more noticeably.