The local branch of Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 333 E. Grand River Ave., closed for business Dec. 31, 2011, after the company announced earlier this year it would not renew its lease on the property, and The Refinery, a clothing boutique located at 115 Albert Ave., has been closed for more than a month.

The downtown clothing store ReThreads, 543 E. Grand River Ave., also has set a tentative closing date of Feb. 4. ReThreads store manager Katrina Rhea confirmed the tentative date but deferred further comment to the store’s owners.

The owners could not be reached as of press time.

East Lansing Community and Economic Development Administrator Lori Mullins said the departure of businesses from downtown areas is fairly common during the course of a year.

“I think that turnover of those smaller retail spaces is similar to what we’ve seen in the past,” she said.

East Lansing Director of Planning and Community Development Tim Dempsey confirmed the closure of The Refinery, although phone messages left with the owners of the store were not returned as of Sunday evening. The Refinery first was opened by former MSU hockey goalie Ryan Miller and business partner Jason Snyder in April 2007.

“For Lease” signs have been hanging in the building’s front windows for about a month, and the interior of the store has been largely barren since early December 2011.

Advertising freshman Shannon Chesney said she thinks with a struggling economy, competing with other East Lansing clothing stores might not have been financially viable for The Refinery.

“In a college town, there’s so many stores for (students) to buy clothing,” Chesney said.

Dempsey said when looking at downtown retailers, the departure of Barnes & Noble is somewhat indicative of demand shifting away from hardcover and paperback books and toward e-readers such as the Kindle.

Company officials could not be reached for comment regarding the closures.

“Certainly not having Barnes & Noble here (in East Lansing) is a loss,” Dempsey said. “They were a tremendous resource for the community in terms of providing … a product that people in this community place a high value on.”

City officials will look to fill the empty space left behind by Barnes & Noble as quickly as possible, Dempsey said.

Although no companies or businesses have made offers on the 34,000-square-foot property,

Dempsey said the city would prefer to fill the two-story location with multiple businesses, an additional downtown clothing or goods retailer among them. Other possibilities include a hardware store or a grocery store, Dempsey said.

Spanish and mathematics freshman Lynne Krut said she is disappointed with the bookstore’s closure.

“I feel like there’s definitely a market (for a large bookstore in East Lansing),” she said. “I feel like they shouldn’t be closing down.”