Retailers to Open 2,250 US Stores This Year, Says Report 1
By: Jeff Dervech - March 19, 2019 Retailers to Open 2,250 US Stores This Year, Says Report

Retail is strong and the brands of which are adopting and embracing change will continue to thrive. Retail is evolving every day and has changed significantly over the last 30 years. Don’t expect it to stop now! Shopping centers will morph and evolve faster over the next 5 to 10 years than ever before. The way consumers shop has changed the retail landscape and with in turn has as changed the physical infrastructure and footprint...

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Energize aging shopping centers by splitting them in two, architect advises 2
By: Jeff Dervech - February 7, 2019 Energize aging shopping centers by splitting them in two, architect advises

Renovate and Freshen Up your Strip Center! Why? Because in many instances you can add tremendous value by renovating or redeveloping your plaza to attract better quality higher paying retail tenants. Creating new energy by way of renovation directly affects the property’s bottom line and positions retail assets to be setup for long-term success by attracting tenants and keeping up the occupancy rate. Deighton Babis with BDG Architects coined a term “In Cap” and created...

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Feds hashing out details of Opportunity Zones program 3
By: Jeff Dervech - February 4, 2019 Feds hashing out details of Opportunity Zones program

What are opportunity zones and why is everyone crazing about them? Opportunity Zones is a new tax incentive program casted by the government that is forecasted to activate billions of dollars in development and investment in 8,700 federally designated low-income census tracts across the US. The basic concept behind this initiative is to incentive private investors to place capital in these low-income areas in return for deferred and reduced taxes on capital gains. The government...

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Revamped Whole Foods ready to grow again, exec says 4
By: Jeff Dervech - January 23, 2019 Revamped Whole Foods ready to grow again, exec says

Whole Foods Market which operates 479 locations throughout its chain was purchased by Amazon in June 2017 for $13.7 billion. Since the acquisition, the chain has been somewhat muted on aggressive store expansion and store pipeline as Amazon worked to fine tune the engine and gear up for the grocery track meet. Whole Foods was known to be behind the curve on technology and the development of a loyalty program as well as declining same...

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Chipotle adds “Lifestyle Bowls” for paleo, keto, Whole30 dieters 5
By: Jeff Dervech - January 14, 2019 Chipotle adds “Lifestyle Bowls” for paleo, keto, Whole30 dieters

Chipotle Mexican Grill which operates 2,250 locations across the United States is a strong tenant for many strip center and shopping center owners and continues to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. This fast-causal restaurant has implemented a new category to meet customer demands designed to follow trendy eating plans. This new “Lifestyle Bowl” includes a Paleo Salad Bowl, a Keto Salad Bowl, a Whole30 Salad Bowl and a Double Protein Bowl which contains...

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Landlords look to the parking lot for new revenue 6
By: Jeff Dervech - January 9, 2019 Landlords look to the parking lot for new revenue

As shopping centers evolve, so are parking requirements! The traditional parking ratio of 5 spaces per 1,000 sf is in many cases outdated and not does apply to every situation or commercial development. Municipalities are changing or considering changing the way that they view this requirement by understanding that traditional consumer transportation now includes multiple alternatives such as car sharing services and in the future autonomous vehicles. The existing code for parking requirements, at times,...

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Economists React to December Jobs Report on Twitter 7
By: Jeff Dervech - January 7, 2019 Economists React to December Jobs Report on Twitter

The economy continues its longest streak ever by adding 312,000 jobs in December. This is a record 99 months of monthly job growth beginning in October 2010. Year over Year wage growth grew 3.2% with unemployment at 3.9%. December numbers show that are economy continues to be in a very healthy state and is not in line with the perception of the recent equity markets. This is a great thing for our economy kicking off...

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The 10 Questions Real Estate Has to Answer in 2019 8
By: Jeff Dervech - January 4, 2019 The 10 Questions Real Estate Has to Answer in 2019

2019 is finally here! As we embark on this new year, investors will look to a world that consists of a strengthen economy with consist job growth in a tail ended real estate cycle. From technology, rising interest rates, economic conditions, potential political risks, omnichannel retailing, change of how brick and mortar space is used by retailers, chase for yield, debt market’s competition and global capital market flow, this year is sure to be an...

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Retail Landlords Turn to Mom and Pop Shops to Fill Credit Tenant Void 9
By: Jeff Dervech - December 31, 2018 Retail Landlords Turn to Mom and Pop Shops to Fill Credit Tenant Void

As shopping centers continue to evolve, landlord’s will look to lease space at their centers to strong local and regional operating tenants. In order to meet the demands of consumers, landlords will look to input tenants that offer an “experiential, social and engaging experience”. Local and Regional Mom and Pop tenants have been increasing in appeal to shopping center landlord’s as they continue to prove by their successes that they know their customer, understand the...

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Dollar General Plans Nearly 1,000 New Stores Next Year 10
By: Jeff Dervech - December 17, 2018 Dollar General Plans Nearly 1,000 New Stores Next Year

Dollar General plans to open 975 new stores and remodel over 1,000 stores in FY 2019 which begins in February. Part of their plan includes the incorporation of produce and expanded food selections into areas of which lack grocery options. The addition of produce and expanded grocery is an opportunity to offer a solution to a need especially in more rural and urban communities deemed as a “food desert”. A food desert is an area...

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Five Retailers That Are Investing Billions in Their Stores 11
By: Jeff Dervech - December 16, 2018 Five Retailers That Are Investing Billions in Their Stores

Retailers continue to pour money back into their brick and mortar locations. Why? Physical stores remain the heartbeat to retail brands and it is important for them to keep their core assets polished. The push to make investment into their physical units is an effort to keep their stores fresh, incorporate new store formats and implement newly designed layouts in creating the store of the future to effectively execute on instore pickup and delivery operations....

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Inside Walmart’s plans to convert parking lots into ‘town center’ 12
By: Jeff Dervech - December 12, 2018 Inside Walmart’s plans to convert parking lots into ‘town center’

“What do we do with all of this excess parking at our Walmart stores? Let’s create town centers!” – Walmart Executive Walmart has announced plans to capitalize on their existing real estate to reutilize excess parking fields for new town center retail developments. This is a new campaign spearheaded by Walmart called “Walmart Reimagined” which was unrevealed in October 2018 at the ICSC Southeast Conference in Atlanta. This is a great way for Walmart to...

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Kroger, Walgreens step up grocery pilot 13
By: Jeff Dervech - December 10, 2018 Kroger, Walgreens step up grocery pilot

Kroger enters into grocery partnership with Walgreens! This partnership is a format for Kroger to offer a defined branded section within the Walgreens store footprint to sell groceries. The average Kroger grocery section in the new Walgreens program is going to be approx. 4,000 sf which is roughly about a 30% of the average Walgreens selling space. This move positions both companies to reach new customers and reshape their businesses in order to account for...

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Omni-channel a boon for retailers, former Walmart head says! 14
By: Jeff Dervech - December 5, 2018 Omni-channel a boon for retailers, former Walmart head says!

Success in the future of retail requires the embracing and implementation of omni-channel into marketing and business operations. The retailers that perform this well will receive a “double whammy” as they capitalize from online in addition to brick and mortar. In the review of the recently passed 2018 Thanksgiving weekend holiday shopping stretch (Black Friday through Cyber Monday), 88% of US adults bought merchandise from physical retailers, whether through their online websites or directly in...

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Innovation distinguishes crop of new retail, mixed-use developments 15
By: Jeff Dervech - December 3, 2018 Innovation distinguishes crop of new retail, mixed-use developments

Retail Development is expected to increase for 2019 when compared to 2018 with more than $90M square feet of new retail projected of which includes redevelopments, new restaurants, grocery anchored shopping centers and urban styled experience projects. FY 2018 is on pace to end up slightly less than $70M sf of new retail. The focus for developers will continue to be on mixed use projects that are e-commerce resistant and that continue to add an...

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Analysis: TJX is a retailer for all seasons 16
By: Jeff Dervech - November 29, 2018 Analysis: TJX is a retailer for all seasons

TJX is a strong tenant for a shopping center landlord for many reasons and throughout all seasons! Everyone wants a bargain! As consumers look to stretch their dollar, this retailer continues to provide options that are aspirational and economical which bodes well in this sector of the market. They consistently drive traffic to their stores by keeping customers engaged and by regularly changing their instore assortments. This prompts regular visits by shoppers which in turn...

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Ikea Eyes US Sites to Anchor Mixed Use Development 17
By: Jeff Dervech - November 27, 2018 Ikea Eyes US Sites to Anchor Mixed Use Development

Ikea is looking to open 6 new stores within mixed use retail projects that they plan to self-develop over the next 2 years. The company calls these stores “Meeting Places” and will look to high profile cities in core urban markets for this concept which will include an Ikea store, a home goods big box and a mall featuring entertainment uses and other international retail brands. The standard footprint for these new locations with range...

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Malls compete for shoppers from e-commerce ahead of holidays 18
By: Jeff Dervech - November 27, 2018 Malls compete for shoppers from e-commerce ahead of holidays

This holiday shopping season sales could exceed $1 trillion of which 87.5% will be done in brick and mortar business. It is all about creating a great environment and great services for your consumer to make shopping as seamless and as frictionless as possible. Mall landlords are implementing curbside delivery in which consumers come to the mall, make their purchases, continue shopping and items are individually picked up, aggregated together and delivered to their car...

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NRK Survey says more than 164 million consumers plan to shop over 5-day Thanksgiving weekend 19
By: Jeff Dervech - November 21, 2018 NRK Survey says more than 164 million consumers plan to shop over 5-day Thanksgiving weekend

Retailers must prepare for a floodgate of consumers to shop over this 5-day Thanksgiving weekend. National Retail Federation estimates 164 million consumers are already planning to go shopping. Consumers will be shopping all weekend and retailers must be ready to meet demand. Many consumers will head out right after finishing holiday turkey and continue to shop through Cyber Monday. Data points from the survey include: 21% (34 million) expected to shop on Thanksgiving Day, 71%...

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Southwest Florida’s Supermarkets get fresh to grow sales 20
By: Jeff Dervech - November 19, 2018 Southwest Florida’s Supermarkets get fresh to grow sales

Growth within the grocer sector is strong in many areas encompassing Southwest Florida! Individuals grocers to include Earth Fare, Whole Foods, Lucky’s Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Detwiler’s Farm Market are continuing to seek opportunities to growth their footprint within this sector of the state. In search of entering into these markets with limited options, they are lending themselves to being flexible in deal structures, wether that is leasing all or a portion of a...

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Thanksgiving sales, shopper traffic to rise, report say. 21
By: Jeff Dervech - November 14, 2018 Thanksgiving sales, shopper traffic to rise, report say.

Majority of holiday weekend shoppers are expected to head to physical retailers and shopping center destinations with ambitions to spend more than they did in 2017. 83% of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers plan to buy in brick and mortar and spend approx. $555 worth of goods and services over the 4-day weekend. The retailers that have both a physical and online presence will be ones to drive the highest sales as consumers want options and will...

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Are Food Halls a Magic Elixir for Retail Owners? 22
By: Jeff Dervech - November 12, 2018 Are Food Halls a Magic Elixir for Retail Owners?

Food Halls continue to be a hot ticket for retail properties! The concept has grown significantly since 2015 from approximately 70 projects being tracked in the US, to over 180 food halls by the end of 2018 according to Cushman & Wakefield. The buck doesn’t stop there, the industry is expecting that to grow to 300 individual food halls by the end of 2020. Food Halls comes in all different shapes and sizes ranging from...

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Dollar General heads for the city, with smaller stores 23
By: Jeff Dervech - November 7, 2018 Dollar General heads for the city, with smaller stores

Dollar General is rolling out a strategy to reduce its store footprint from 9,000 sf to approx. 4,500 sf in an initiative to incorporate a new urban concept called DGX. Dollar General operates approx. 15,000 corporate owned and operate units across its portfolio, opening approx. 1,315 stores in Fiscal Year 2017. The new concept is to target millennials starting families and setting up in homes while trying to save money. The concept is expected to...

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A message from the chairman: The relationship between brick and mortar and online retail 24
By: Jeff Dervech - November 5, 2018 A message from the chairman: The relationship between brick and mortar and online retail

Brick and Mortar drives digital engagement! Brand’s web traffic and online sales performance is directly correlated and heavily influenced by the presence of a physical store. The selling experience is directly linked to touchpoints through selling channels such as stores, direct to customer, mobile and online. This link ultimately in effect leads to the promotion of a brand, building better customer relationships, which leads to an increase in shopping trips resulting in higher sales. Digital...

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Mattress Firm Issues Ultimatum to Landlords as Battle Over Bankruptcy Closures Begins 25
By: Jeff Dervech - November 1, 2018 Mattress Firm Issues Ultimatum to Landlords as Battle Over Bankruptcy Closures Begins

Significantly lower the rent or face losing the location. This is the ultimatum Mattress Firm is issuing landlords as it begins the bankruptcy process filed on October 5th, 2018. Mattress Firm operates more than 3,000 stores and plans to reduce its store count by more than 500 units. The mattress retailer has experienced aggressive expansion in the recent years including several mergers which has resulted in the filing of bankruptcy mainly due to an accounting...

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Holiday shoppers opening up their wallets for experiences 26
By: Jeff Dervech - October 30, 2018 Holiday shoppers opening up their wallets for experiences

Holiday shoppers are increasingly valuing experience over things! Interesting statistics from Deloitte’s 33rd annual Holiday Survey. According to the survey, experience spending will account for 40% or $611, out of the total $1,536 expected holiday shopper budget. 57% of total holiday spending is expected to be online this year. 66% of shoppers plan to research online and purchase in-store with 45% buying on-line and picking up in store. Omnichannel will be in full force this...

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Tractor Supply Store adding stores and reaping profits 27
By: Jeff Dervech - October 26, 2018 Tractor Supply Store adding stores and reaping profits

Tractor Supply is continuing its plan of growth with an announcement to add 500 more stores to its existing footprint of 1,900 units. This retailer has been around for over 80 years and caters to a very niche customer. The average store generates approx. $257 per square foot when compared to Macy’s at $195 per square foot. No doubt this is a strong company with profits growing by approx. 9% per year on average since...

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Five Landlords that Replaced Sears with More Profitable Tenants 28
By: Jeff Dervech - October 24, 2018 Five Landlords that Replaced Sears with More Profitable Tenants

Retail landlords continue to take advantage of the store closures within their property portfolio. They are eager for a new beginning and are re-tenanting their spaces with new concepts that pay more rent and add to the retail synergy at their properties. Concepts such as cinemas, trampoline parks, fitness facilities, dining halls, sporting goods retailers and discount home furnishing stores among many other options are what these landlords are pursuing to replace this recaptured retail...

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Gyms Are Expanding and Many are Eyeing Mall Vacancies 29
By: Jeff Dervech - October 3, 2018 Gyms Are Expanding and Many are Eyeing Mall Vacancies

Did you know that Planet Fitness was the #1 ranked tenant by total new square footage leased since the start of 2017 across all “mall” tenants? Fitness is an expanding sector and one of which is near internet resistant. With more than 36,000 clubs across the US with 60M+ members, consumers are more health conscious as ever in today’s day in age. Many shopping center landlords are seeking fitness uses as ideally anchor tenants to...

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US Consumer Confidence at 18 Year High 30
By: Jeff Dervech - October 1, 2018 US Consumer Confidence at 18 Year High

US consumer confidence is at an 18 year high with an index of 138.4 in September up from 134.7 in August. The all-time high is 144.7 which was reach in 2000. This bodes well for the economy as consumer spending fuels most developed service-based economies, including the US representing approx. 70% of GDP. Coupled by a strong economy and robust job growth, a high consumer confidence level of 138.4 in September proves a healthy economy...

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The future of University Mall in Tampa is that it won’t be a mall anymore 31
By: Jeff Dervech - September 19, 2018 The future of University Mall in Tampa is that it won’t be a mall anymore

Do you know what the future of malls looks like? This is an ever-changing and evolving question but one that is posed quite regularly. As traditionally formatted malls are re-purposed or re-positioned, developers are having a fun time creating a new picture with a blank canvas. “New is the new, new”! This was a phase quoted by Spencer Levy, America’s head of research for CBRE. University Mall in Tampa near the University of South Florida...

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Fast Food’s Got a Netflix Problem as Americans Prefer to Dine In 32
By: Jeff Dervech - September 17, 2018 Fast Food’s Got a Netflix Problem as Americans Prefer to Dine In

More and more of Americans are continuing to eat at home, making the “dine-out” dollar more competitive amongst restaurants brand. 82% of Americans meals are prepared at home. Traffic for the industry was down 1.1% in July, the 29th straight month of declines, according to MillerPulse data. Restaurant Operators continue to report rising sales, however this increase has been caused by price hikes and not necessarily more customers. Pre-made meals, online grocery delivery, crushing student...

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Economists React to August 2018 Jobs Report on Twitter 33
By: Jeff Dervech - September 14, 2018 Economists React to August 2018 Jobs Report on Twitter

Interesting Opinions via Twitter from different economist pertaining to the August jobs report. Overall, it is a very healthy report marking the 95th straight month of employment gains with an unemployment rate at 3.9%. Jobs create discretionary income which in turns fuels retail sales keeping the shopping center industry in a healthy state. [Source]

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These retailers getting “most bang for the buck” 34
By: Jeff Dervech - September 12, 2018 These retailers getting “most bang for the buck”

In the off-price and specialty retail space, TJX and Ross lead the pack with the highest return on their investment compared to how much they pay in rent. This report analyzed companies return on investment as it relates to what they earn in sales per square foot, compared to what they pay in rent per square foot. TJX and Ross both bring in more than 20x greater then what they pay in rent. This is...

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Clicks-And-Bricks Comes of Age, Physical Stores Gain Ground 35
By: Jeff Dervech - September 10, 2018 Clicks-And-Bricks Comes of Age, Physical Stores Gain Ground

Retail Sales spiked over the summer primarily due to a strong economy with GDP at 4.1% annualized growth in Q2 and successful retailers are effectively implementing Omni-Channel retail into their arsenal. This is required for the future success for any retail brand and the strongest retailers are spanning across physical, mobile and social platforms to implement this strategy. This is what customers want and desire and allows retail brands the opportunity to parlay their physical...

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Store resurfaces parking lot with plastic bags 36
By: Jeff Dervech - September 7, 2018 Store resurfaces parking lot with plastic bags

Tesco, the British owned grocer and general merchandise retailer, based out of the United Kingdom has banned plastic bags in replacement of alternatives that are better for the environment. In addition, they have incorporated a new way to utilize recycled plastic shopping bags into the binding material used to resurface parking lots. This new method saves plastic from going to the landfill and adds it to the asphalt mix which in turn creates a stronger,...

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