Glik’s poised to move headquarters to Collinsville with new online distribution center
Glik’s is one step closer to moving its headquarters to Collinsville after more than 60 years in Granite City.
On Tuesday night, Collinsville City Council approved an agreement to provide the clothing-store chain with about $841,000 worth of incentives if it builds an online order-fulfillment center with corporate offices in a tax-increment-financing district and enterprise zone near Interstate 255.
Glik’s CEO Jeff Glik said on Wednesday that plans aren’t final because the company hasn’t entered into any contracts.
“Since the city has approved the TIF money, now we begin to work with a contractor and designer to see if we can afford to build the building,” he said.
The 40,000-square-foot structure is projected to cost $5.3 million. It would sit on nearly 4 acres along ABC Parkway, north of Horseshoe Lake Road, about halfway between Interstate 255 and Illinois 157.
A headquarters relocation would move 60 existing jobs from Granite City to Collinsville and possibly create up to 20 new jobs. There are no plans to close the Granite City retail store at this time.
“We are a growing company,” Glik said. “We’ve added four new stores a year for the past 15 years.”
The company now operates 70 stores in 12 states, including those in Granite City, Edwardsville, Highland, Litchfield and Sparta. It has 640 employees.
Glik’s is one of the oldest retailers in the United States and remains a family business. Jeff Glik’s great-grandfather, Joseph Glik, opened the first store in 1897.
Collinsville Mayor John Miller called the headquarters-relocation plan a “win-win situation.”
“We’re extremely happy about the deal,” he said. “The fact that Glik’s is moving their entire operation from Granite City to Collinsville ... It’s a good thing.”
On Wednesday, Granite City Mayor Ed Hagnauer declined comment through an employee, who said he didn’t know about the Collinsville agreement.
Collinsville City Manager Mitch Bair noted that the city has been on a roll with economic development. He pointed to:
- Ameren’s construction of a new headquarters building, which opened early last year in Eastport Plaza.
- The Jan. 1 legalization of recreational cannabis in Illinois, which has caused business to boom at a local dispensary.
- Passage of state legislation last year that will allow Fairmont Park racetrack to be converted into a casino and add more horse-racing dates.
- First Collinsville Bank’s purchase of the former Shop ‘n Save supermarket building, which is being converted into its corporate headquarters.
- Plans by Kruta Bakery to expand with a cafe and McDill’s Irish Pub to demolish and replace its building.
“Collinsville is in a great location for distribution centers with all the interstates,” Bair said. “You can’t beat it. We’re right at 55/70 and 255, and then you have 40/64 three or four miles to the south, and you go north and you hit 270.”
The Glik’s land is in the city’s TIF District No. 1, which is set to expire in 2021, Miller said.
Collinsville would pay Glik’s about $600,000 in TIF funds on completion of the new structure. The company would save about $108,000 in state sales taxes on construction materials because of its location in the Madison County Discovery Enterprise Zone, Bair said.
“We’re also giving them a 10-year, 50 percent rebate on online sales-tax collections. That will amount to about $133,000.”
Collinsville officials expect the Glik’s development to generate about $266,000 in sales-tax revenue and $98,000 in property-tax revenue over 10 years, according to a city report.
Joseph Glik opened his first store in St. Louis. The company started with menswear and later expanded to clothing, shoes and accessories for women and children.
Glik’s moved its headquarters to Madison in the early 1900s, then to Granite City in the 1950s. It’s now headed by Jeff Glik and his brother, Jim Glik, who serves as senior vice president. Elliot Glik recently joined the business, representing the fifth generation.
Jeff Glik said more details about the Collinsville development would be released to the public in March.
“We needed the city to get behind us to make this all happen,” he said. “We’re happy where we’re at, but we were looking to move if we got the TIF money to be able to do it.”
This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
