Forest Mall to lose three stores, pushing total closures to more than 10 in 2019

Sarah Razner | Fond du Lac Reporter

FOND DU LAC - Forest Mall will cap off what already is a year of loss with three more store closings.

Christopher & Banks, CJ Banks and Jim Laabs Pianos, will shutter their doors at the nearly-empty Forest Mall in the coming weeks. However, they will not completely disappear from local shoppers' lives.

Women's clothing retailers Christopher & Banks and CJ Banks will close on Tuesday, Store Manager Paula Hanson told The Reporter Monday.

The closure will only be temporary for the city, as the stores merge into one location, Christopher & Banks, between King Chef and Verizon in the strip mall which holds Festival Foods at 1155 E. Johnson St.

The store will celebrate its grand reopening on Dec. 11 and 12, Hanson said.

Jim Laabs Pianos is also preparing to shut down. Store Manager Lon Doudna did not have share a specific date the store will close, but said a transition to a new store in Appleton's Fox River Mall is in progress, and that the new store will open soon.

For more information on the store, Doudna asked customers to call 715-684-9479.

The stores are just a few of the many that left Forest Mall in 2019. In January, Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret, Zales, Cost Cutters, GNC and Books-A-Million closed. February took two more: LensCrafters and Hot Topic. In April, 4 Seasons Nail & Wax moved to a new location at 190 N. Main St.

Currently, only three major retailers remain in the mall: Kohl's, Staples and Maurices.

Contact Sarah Razner at 920-907-7909 or srazner@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @misssarahrazner.

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