Oak Park: Apple ideal for Borders site

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An Apple store like this one in downtown Naperville is what Oak Park village officials hope will replace the closing Borders bookstore at Lake and Harlem. | Sun-Times Media file photo

Updated: November 2, 2011 1:13AM

Oak Park wants an Apple computer store to replace Borders bookstore at the village’s gateway on Lake and Harlem.

And to get it, they’re unleashing a full-court press on the computer giant.

“We’re setting out an all-out recruitment watch on Apple,” Village Manager Tom Barwin said Tuesday morning.

“I hope when the Borders store becomes available that Apple doesn’t blow this opportunity in coming to Oak Park,” Barwin said.

If bankruptcy proceedings are approved Thursday, Borders could start liquidating its merchandise on Friday.

The emply store in a prime downtown Oak Park location puts the village in a precarious position to find the right retailer and get storefront filled fast.

Barwin said Borders had already “established the needed foot traffic” at Lake Street and Harlem Avenue for customers seeking e-information gear.

“We have two nearby universities with students and professors, as well as an intellectual community looking for resources, computers and digital reading materials,” he said.

“We think Apple would be the best in the business as the successor to Borders,” he said.

The village has been working with Oak Park Development Corporation in persuading Apple to set up shop in old Marshall Fields building.

The corporation’s president, Sara Faust, said when Borders stores in Chicago began closing months ago, she approached the building owners in Oak Park for ideas on successors should closing be evident.

“We would love another bookstore in Oak Park. With the Book Table and Magic Tree Bookstore here, this is a reading community,” Faust said.

“But general merchandise places would be well-received too, such as Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn.

“The Borders store has a large footprint and two stories with a beautiful lower level. It’s a prime corner and most businesses we talk to want to be at Lake and Harlem,” she said.

“Still, we want to give Apple a chance to be in our basket.”