After four months of failing to pay rent, U Wireless in Stadium Village was evicted following a trial on Jan. 22. The store continued to operate while neglecting to pay $4,900 between October 2008 and January 2009, according to the eviction summons filed in Hennepin County. In addition to the unpaid rent, U Wireless owed more than $4,000 in operating expenses, real estate taxes and other charges. Nobody from U Wireless came to court to defend the claims, Steve Potach, Stadium Village PlazaâÄôs attorney, said. Potach said itâÄôs common for defendants not to defend claims of unpaid rent. Although U Wireless broke the agreement by failing to pay the landlord, Potach said the landlord chose not to act immediately. âÄúI think the landlord was willing to give them a little bit of leeway,âÄù he said. âÄúIf youâÄôre a month or two late it might not be a critical issue, but when youâÄôre as late as they were, it becomes a concern.âÄù The 600-square-foot location is already available for lease.
New bookstore to open in May
A new bookstore will open in Stadium Village this May, offering buyback options to students for this semester. Stadium Village Bookstore will be located in the Stadium Village Mall and expects to be fully operational by August. The new location is owned by Charlie Ward , who also owns Student Bookstore in Dinkytown, and will offer similar products, store manager Pradeep Denoronha said. âÄúWe just thought there were too many students across campus who were not taking advantage of the rental program. We just want to target those students,âÄù he said. âÄúItâÄôs a long walk from there all the way to Dinkytown.âÄù The new location is convenient for students, Denoronha said, and although Oak Street Textbooks is operating a block away, he does not know how the competition will affect business. Oak Street co-owner Troy Gerky said he is not worried about the new competition and thinks business could actually increase with the nearby store. Gerky used to own a bookstore in Madison and said that the addition of a new store helped business. Gerky said that students shopped more within nearby locations in order to compare prices and ensure they could find all of their books. âÄúI donâÄôt know what the motivation was,âÄù Gerky said, âÄúbut it actually tended to help us sell more.âÄù Another reason Gerky said he isnâÄôt concerned about the added competition is because off-campus bookstores are not his biggest competitor. He said the University of Minnesota Bookstores offer the most competition because they have significantly more check out registers for students when they try to buy books on the first day of class. Gerky also said he has had to be more aggressive with pricing to compete with online book sellers and maintain lower prices than the University Bookstores. While the new store is moving in soon, Gerky said the lack of used books will determine how much a new store can grow. âÄúTheir buyback might pick up a little bit, but theyâÄôre not going to buy back so many more books that theyâÄôre going to have a huge impact on us,âÄù Gerky said.
Asian restaurant to replace MilioâÄôs
After closing on Dec.19, MilioâÄôs Sandwiches is still in the process of being bought out by Stub and HerbâÄôs Cocktail and Drinking Emporium. MilioâÄôs is continuing to pay rent for the location, but the sandwich shop had to close because business was not going well, Stub and Herbs owner Josh Zavadil said. He said he did not know where the competition was coming from, but the shop had been struggling for a while. Although he could not make an official announcement because the buyout isnâÄôt complete, Zavadil said the location will turn into an Asian restaurant. Zavadil said he expects the new restaurant to open in the next three or four months.
