EQUITY RETAIL BLOG

Lowe's Plans to Add 45 Stores This Year

Here’s some news from a tenant who has been pretty quiet.  Lowe’s press release MOORESVILLE, N.C., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) today reported net earnings of $884 million for the quarter ended April 29, 2016, a 31.4 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share increased 40.0 percent to $0.98 from $0.70 in the first quarter of […]

TJX Has Aggressive Store Opening Plan

CNN Money Article T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods plan to open thousands of new stores TJX Companies, owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods among other brands, plans to grow its number of stores by more than 50%. It will have 5,600 stores when it is finished expanding, up from the current total of nearly […]

BB&T Closing 28 Local Branches

Philadelphia Business Journal Article

Supermarkets increasing their presence in power centers

Shopping Centers Today, an ICSC publication, recently published an article explaining that U.S. developers are changing the traditional shopping center retail mix by moving neighborhood stores – namely grocery retailers – into power and lifestyle centers. The article says that the ground was broken about a decade ago by stores like Costco, Target and Walmart, […]

Trader Joe's price investments widening the gap with Whole Foods

According to an analyst, Trader Joe’s may be widening its price advantage with Whole Foods. Karen Short of Deutsche Bank Securities said in a report recently that a Trader Joe’s in the New York market had a total price advantage of 26% over a neighboring Whole Foods Market across a basket of 77 like items. […]

Dollar General sees opportunity in consumables

Dollar General cited stagnant wages relative to rising consumer prices, and negative income growth projected through 2020 for customers earning less than $50,000, as reasons for the company’s plan to capture additional customers through improvements in its consumables assortment. CEO Todd Vasos claimed earlier this year that based on current sales, Dollar General has significant […]

Staples & Office Depot Terminate Merger

ICSC Article Staples and Office Depot to Terminate Merger Agreement Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) today announced that on May 16, 2016, the company and Office Depot, Inc. plan to terminate their merger agreement following U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia’s recent ruling granting the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction to […]

Wegmans and Aldi are cleanest stores in Philly, Bucks

The Philadelphia Inquirer examined two years of health department reports for large grocers in Philadelphia and Bucks Counties and determined that Wegmans and Aldi were the cleanest supermarket chains. Fresh Grocer, Whole Foods and Shop N Bag ranked at the bottom of the list, while Giant, ShopRite and Acme were in the middle of the […]

H Mart partners with Instacart

H Mart announced recently that it would partner with Instacart to deliver products to its customers, and an H Mart store in Upper Darby (near the Philadelphia border) would be the first store to activate the program. H Mart is a national Asian-American supermarket chain that has 51 stores nationwide, including three in PA and […]

Make the Difficult Call

I recently posted a video about making the difficult call.  If you have a hard message to deliver or you need to give someone bad news, don’t delay the phone call.  When you make that call to the friend, colleague, client, consultant, vendor, or family member, the conversation in and of itself helps strengthen your […]