Electronics, book store to join 'Shops at Main/Transit'
Completion expected by holiday season

Best Buy and Barnes & Noble will join the "Shops at Main/Transit" in the coming months as The Benchmark Group announced that construction has begun on the two retail businesses.

The completion of the shopping center, which includes stores such as Bed Bath and Beyond and Petco, is entering its final stages with the addition of the electronics store and book shop.

"This new and renovated retail center will change the face of one of Western New York's most heavily traveled intersections, and it will provide some great new shopping experiences for its customers," said Martin J. DelleBovi, director of real estate and executive vice president for The Benchmark Group.

Since redevelopment began in the summer of 2005, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Petco have opened stores, the existing Old Country Buffet was relocated and First Niagara Bank was located on an out parcel along Transit Road. The Shops at Main/Transit is now 75 percent complete.

"We expect Best Buy and Barnes & Noble to open for business in time for the holiday shopping season," DelleBovi said. "This will culminate our two-and-a-half-year construction/ renovation project, which will add 110,000 square feet of new space, with a total of eight freestanding buildings."

Currently open at the Shops at Main/Transit are Bed Bath & Beyond, Petco, Office Depot, Dunn Tire, HSBC Bank, First Niagara Bank, Old Country Buffet and Tully's.

"When completed, Shops at Main/Transit will boast 225,000 square feet of retail space," Delle- Bovi said. "We still have approximately 25,000 square feet left to lease, with space available ranging in size from 1,000 to 10,000 square feet."

The total estimated renovation/ construction cost for Shops at Main/Transit is projected at $25 million, and the total site is 33.5 acres.