Syms to close Commack store

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That huge Syms store along the Long Island Expressway in Commack is closing Saturday,Jan. 23 a company spokeswoman said.

Syms customers have begun receiving postcards about the closing of the store, which opened 15 years ago.

"It's a challenging retail location," Syms spokeswoman DaviaTemin said. "It's a stand-alone [store], and it's hard for people to access [if they're driving] east on the Long Island Expressway."

Temin said Syms is "reviewing other options. There might be other location options."

Syms, which has another Long Island store in Westbury, last year acquired the Filene's Basement Inc. chain and now operates 53 stores under the Syms and Filene's brand names. Earlier this month, Marcy Syms, the company's chief executive, was named chairwoman, succeeding her father, the legendary retailer Sy Syms, who died in November at age 83.

Sy Syms, who started the chain in 1959 in Manhattan's financial district, once said - to paraphrase - the worst thing that could happen after a retailer opens one store is to open another, because then, he said, you must run back and forth between the two of them.