The Pottery Barn, one of the largest retailers on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue, will close its doors for good by the end of January, leaving the Grand Place mall at Grand and Victoria Street devoid of retailers or public-facing tenants.

Employees of the national furniture and home goods store were recently informed of the pending closure, which they said store managers plan to make public by Friday. A call to the store on Monday afternoon was referred to a manager, scheduled to be in on Tuesday.

Employees said the St. Paul location was the only Twin Cities Pottery Barn scheduled to close. It was also the only Pottery Barn in the east metro.

The mall, owned by the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio — Columbus-based STRS Ohio — has steadily lost commercial tenants since the start of the pandemic, including an M Health Fairview clinic and national clothing chains J. Crew and Lululemon.

The departures have raised concerns among small-business advocates who note that rather than reduce rents and negotiate with homegrown mom-and-pop retailers, out-of-state building owners appear more likely to hold out for a longer-term tenant that can afford to pay higher lease rates, even if it means keeping a building vacant for years.

Lowering rents could also lower a building’s market value, hurting resale values and the overall value of an investor’s real estate portfolio.

On Monday, several members of the Grand Avenue Business Association said they had spoken with store employees who confirmed the closure. Some hoped the building would soon come up for sale, though there’s been no indication so far that it’s on the market.

The three-story Grand Place shops and parking ramp at the southwest corner of Grand and Victoria was bitterly opposed by neighbors when it was proposed in 2000, prompting a debate about its size and its reliance on national chain retailers in St. Paul’s tony, independent business district.

Grand Place, which changed its name from Victoria Plaza to escape negative publicity surrounding the project, opened a year later after months of debate and compromise. The brick-front building was designed to look like several urban storefronts and complemented the style of its neighbors rather than dwarfing them, as many had feared.

Pottery Barn was the first of Grand Place’s initial three street-level tenants to open its doors. Bound to Be Read, a full-service bookstore owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, and J. Crew followed as the other two tenants. The bookstore later closed.

Williams-Sonoma Inc. announced in August that chief design officer Monica Bhargava had been promoted to president of the San Francisco-based Pottery Barn brand. There are upward of 180 Pottery Barn stores in the U.S., as well as more than 45 Pottery Barn Kids shops selling children’s furniture and baby items.

In the west metro, Pottery Barn locations remain in Edina, Maple Grove and Minnetonka.