Austin, Texas — Whole Foods Market has announced plans to introduce new small-format, quick-shop stores. Called Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, the format is designed to offer a quicker customer experience, featuring produce, meat, seafood, prepared foods, bread, alcohol, supplements, local specialties and products from the 365 by Whole Foods Market brand. Stores will range from 7,000 to 14,000 square feet, between a quarter and half of the size of the average 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods store. Launching first in Manhattan later this year, the format is also scheduled to open in …
Riverside, Calif. — SRS Real Estate Partners has expanded its Southern California presence with the addition of Nick Wirick as senior vice president and managing principal; Chris Beauchamp as vice president; Miranda Montgomery as senior associate; and Jessica Henderson as marketing and transaction coordinator. Based in Riverside, the team is part of SRS’ first Inland Empire office. The Wirick team has completed more than $900 million in deal volume in recent years. The team focuses on tenant and owner services primarily in the Inland Empire. The team will work alongside …
New York City — Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) has announced plans to close 150 of its namesake department stores over the next three years. According to the retail giant, these stores represent 25 percent of the company’s gross square footage as of fiscal year-end 2023 but only account for 10 percent of sales. (Macy’s fiscal 2023 ended Feb. 3, 2024.) Macy’s anticipates closing approximately 50 stores by the end of fiscal year 2024, the locations of which have not been disclosed, though CNBC reports some are located in California, Florida, Hawaii and Virginia. …
Atlanta — Atlanta-based cheeseburger concept Smalls Sliders has expanded, with 200 total restaurants now open or under development. The brand currently has stores, referred to as “Cans,” operating across Louisiana and Mississippi, with openings scheduled in 13 states throughout the Southeast and Midwest. “We look forward to continuing this path of growth, and hopefully announcing our next milestone of 300 Cans under development very soon,” says Maria Rivera, CEO of Smalls Sliders.
Washington, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a U.S. government entity that enforces consumer protection laws, has sued to block Kroger Co.’s (NYSE: KR) proposed $24.6 billion acquisition of Alberstons Cos. (NYSE: ACI). Announced in late 2022, the deal would mark the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history. Kroger’s current portfolio includes thousands of stores across 36 states, including stores that operate under the regional banners Fred Meyer, Fry’s, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Quality Food Centers (QFC), in addition to its Kroger flagship. Albertsons likewise operates thousands of …
Orlando, Sarasota and Tampa, Fla. — Beverage concept Sip Fresh has signed a franchise deal for the development of three new stores in Florida. Franchisee Ryan McGrail will own and operate the stores, which will be located in Orlando, Sarasota and Tampa. Sip Fresh also recently signed multi-unit deals throughout California.
Fayetteville, Ark. — Arkansas-based Slim Chickens has signed a franchise deal for seven new restaurants in the state of Maryland. Franchisee DDR Holdings, a venture between Darrin and Dennis Atlas, will open the units. DDR Holdings currently owns and operates two Slim Chickens stores in the state. The Slim Chickens brand has opened in more than 255 locations across the U.S. and the U.K., with more than 1,200 stores currently in development.
Atlanta — Matthews Real Estate Investment Services has hired Pierce Mayson and Kyle Stonis as senior vice presidents, Jeff Enck as first vice president and Boris Shilkrot as associate vice president. The veteran retail specialists join the company’s shopping center division from SRS Real Estate Partners, where they managed the sales of shopping centers in 17 different states across the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast. Collectively, Mayson, Stonis, Enck and Shilkrot have brokered the sales of $4 billion in career transactions over a combined 50 years. The group will operate from the …
New York City — JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) announced plans today to expand its brick-and-mortar footprint by adding 500 Chase bank branches over the next three years. The New York City-based institution also plans to renovate 1,700 existing bank locations across the United States. New branches will expand JPMorgan Chase’s footprint in existing markets like Boston; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, North Carolina; Philadelphia; and Minneapolis. The company will also enter several new markets, including low- to moderate-income rural communities that previously had little access to traditional banking service. The multi-billion-dollar …
Bentonville, Ark. — Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has announced plans to expand by more than 150 new stores over the next five years, both through new construction and converting existing buildings. The first two stores under this initiative — both under the company’s smaller-format Walmart Neighborhood Market banner — are scheduled to open this spring in Santa Rosa, Florida, and Atlanta. The company is currently finalizing plans for 12 new projects, one of which will be the conversion of a smaller existing location into a large-format Walmart Supercenter, which serves as both …