Thursday, June 30, 2011

Wal-Mart Hitting the Gas with 'Neighborhood Market'

As reported on icsc.org, Wal-Mart announced plans to nearly double the number of its Neighborhood Market supermarkets over the next three years. At present, the company operates 185 of these stores, including 30 in Puerto Rico under the Amigo banner.
 
Wal-Mart executives say, but the 42,000-square-foot Neighborhood Market stores will help revitalize same-store growth after several sluggish years, and will also ease entry into urban markets that have scant room for a Supercenter.


Neighborhood Market stores are easier to develop than the Supercenters, which take as long as seven years while the Neighborhood Market stores take just a year or two. Walmart’s real estate committee has approved 180 new Neighborhood Market stores, roughly 100 of which are to open next year. The company expects to have about 300 in operation by 2013.


Wal-Mart is also working on a smaller version of the Supercenters. Walmart Express, as the smaller format is called, will target urban in-fill locations.
icsc.org Story
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For more information on Walmart's Neighborhood Market and the grocery industry, visit David Goodman's (Equity Retail) blog Running with Equity Retail.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

There's a Tenant for That Space

The spaces formerly occupied by retail heavyweights including Circuit City, Linens 'n Things and Borders are now welcoming sellers of discounted designer jeans, used video games and surplus merchandise. Many of these new stores moving in trumpet terms such as "off-price," "discount" and "value" in their slogans.

Stores including Big Lots, Ross Dress for Less, Jo-Ann Fabrics and Nordstrom Rack are among the wave of retailers capitalizing on lower rents, the new frugality of shoppers and the struggle of mainstream retailers to retain consumers fleeing to better deals online.


With a business model that's better protected from online rivals — selling items too cheap to be shipped cost-effectively — discount retailers are expected to be a resilient player. (Source: stltoday.com)


stltoday.com Story

Staples is the Next to Step Down Store Size

Staples U.S. president Demos Pareros said new stores will be about 15,500 sq. ft. to 16,000 sq. ft., down from the current prototype of 18,000 sq. ft (Source: Chain Store Age)


Chain Store Age Story

Monday, June 27, 2011

Target to Open in Central PA

Target to open in Hanover PA according to the York Dispatch. 
 
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Two more restaurants will soon vie for their shares of the crowded dinner lines at Hanover area eateries, and the sated restaurant-goers can follow dinner with a shopping trip to a new Target store.
 
The retailer is the first store expected to be open on July 24 for business at Gateway Hanover Shopping Center at Eisenhower Drive and Eichelberger Street.  A LongHorn Steakhouse and an Olive Garden are among several new businesses expected to open by October. The restaurants and the Target, along with a Fulton Bank, are free-standing outparcels in the 456,000 square-foot first phase of the shopping center project. The project's strip mall will also include a Five Below discount store, a Rue 21 clothing store, a Ross Dress for Less clothing store, a Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store, a Shoe Carnival shoe store, and a PetSmart pet supply store, a Five Guys restaurant, an AT&T phone store, an LA Nails salon, a Subway and a Vision Works eye care center.
 
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/news/ci_18342669
 
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Congratulations to Retail Brokers Network affiliates Dave Nicholson and Joe Spagnola of LMS respresented Shoe Carnival.  LMS Commercial is based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.