A company that sells uniforms for many of the Akron area’s parochial, charter and some public schools has closed its Fairlawn store and is looking for a new area location.
Schoolbelles owner and President Bruce Carroll said he closed the Fairlawn location on Merz Boulevard on Monday. The rent cost had gotten too high and he didn’t think it was geographically the best spot for his business, he said.
Carroll said he’d inherited the location several years ago when he purchased the former Lowry’s School Uniform store.
“It was a cost decision. We do very little business at this time of year. We might literally take care of two or three customers a day,” he said. “We are going to relocate, probably closer to the Cuyahoga Falls area or Chapel Hill Mall area, which we know... will be more convenient for our customers.”
Parents in the Akron-Canton area at such schools as St. Sebastian, Holy Family and Our Lady of the Elms can get a 15 percent discount and free shipping by ordering directly from the company at www.schoolbelles.com or by calling 988-637-3037. Discounts have been loaded for the affected schools, Carroll said.
“I hope that will accommodate them, because it’s so expensive to carry this store,” he said. Typically, his business makes 50 percent of its sales in a five-week period before the start of school.
Schoolbelles is based in Cleveland and serves 1,000 schools and 13 stores throughout the Midwest.
Carroll laid off the Fairlawn store manager and hopes to re-employ her when he finds his new location, if she is available.
The company also sent out an email to all customers to let them know of the plan.
Carroll is still shopping for his next location, but hopes it will be 2,000 to 2,500 square feet (compared to the 1,700 square feet in Fairlawn) and open by the spring.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her @blinfisherABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/BettyLinFisherABJ and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty