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Irvine, Calif. and Salt Lake City — Faris Lee Investments and MTN Retail Advisors, a grocer-specialized data collection and analytics provider, have entered into a partnership to combine Faris Lee’s retail, real estate, finance and investment advisory services with MTN’s proprietary technology, which includes artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning. MTN currently has data on 28,000 active grocers across the United States and expects that number to grow to 40,000 over the next 18 months. The partnership between Irvine-based Faris Lee Investments and Salt Lake City-based MTN Retail Advisors will also …

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Maryland and Virginia — United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) will sell 13 of its 43 Shoppers Food & Pharmacy locations in a continued effort to reduce its retail footprint. The company will sell the stores to three grocery operators, which will run the stores under their respective banners. UNFI will also close four Shoppers Food locations by the end of January 2020. UNFI agreed to not renew three of the leases while the fourth lease will be canceled pursuant to agreement with the landlord. The four stores being closed are …

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Chattanooga, Tenn. — CBL Properties (NYSE: CBL) will suspend its stock dividends for 2019 and possibly through year-end 2020 in the face of retail bankruptcies, store closures and corporate restructurings of tenants within its portfolio. The Chattanooga-based shopping center and mall owner’s board of directors will review the suspension quarterly but doesn’t expect the dividends to resume in 2020. CBL announced the decision following a review of current taxable income projections for 2019 and 2020. Unpaid dividends on CBL’s preferred stock shall accrue without interest. The suspension includes CBL’s common …

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New York City — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE (LVMH), a French conglomerate and supplier of luxury goods, has agreed to acquire luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) for approximately $16.2 billion. The sales price equates to $135 per share, to be paid in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second or third quarter of 2020. LVMH, based in Paris, owns more than 70 luxury brands in the clothing, cosmetics, jewelry and spirits industries, including Dom Pérignon champagne, Givenchy clothing and perfume and Christian …

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Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Sears Holdings Corp. plans to close 96 underperforming stores by February 2020, according to the retailer’s parent company, Transform Holdco LLC. The closings will consist of 51 Sears stores and 45 Kmart stores, leaving 182 operational Sears and Kmart stores remaining in the United States. The closing stores are scattered throughout all regions of the country, including 28 located in California. A full list of store closures can be found here. “Since purchasing substantially all the assets of Sears Holdings Corp. in February 2019, Transformco has faced …

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Woonsocket, R.I. — CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) plans to close 22 underperforming drugstores during the first quarter of 2020. In its third quarter results of 2019, the Rhode Island-based drugstore giant reported a 36.5 percent increase in revenue from $47.3 billion in 2018 to $64.8 this year. During 2018, CVS closed 46 underperforming stores and acquired health insurance and Medicare company Aetna (NYSE: AET) for approximately $70 billion. The integrated companies moved forward with major asset redevelopments, including a “hub-and-spoke” model wherein smaller retail stores function as outposts for central …

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Glen Allen, Va. — Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Co. has announced that it will close all stores of its retail subsidiary, The Kitchen Collection, by the end of the year. Kitchen Collection employs approximately 800 people at 160 stores across 37 states. The company previously closed about 35 underperforming stores in an effort to maintain long-term profitability, but higher operating losses in the first half of 2019 have prompted Hamilton Beach Brands to shutter the chain entirely. “Despite our best efforts to return Kitchen Collection to profitability through footprint consolidation, …

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Jacksonville, Fla. — Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc. has acquired Maple Street Biscuit Co. for $36 million in an all-cash deal. Maple Street’s portfolio comprised 28 company-owned and five franchise-owned restaurants in seven states at the time of sale. The company plans to convert its Holler & Dash Biscuit House into Maple Street Biscuit locations. Scott Moore and Gus Johnson founded Maple Street in Jacksonville in 2012. Moore will stay on as CEO and will report to Sandra Cochran, president and CEO of Cracker Barrel.

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Los Angeles — Forever 21 Inc. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware. Forever 21 intends to use these proceedings to facilitate a global restructuring that will allow the company to focus on a profitable core part of its operations. As part of its restructuring strategy, the company plans to exit most of its international locations in Asia and Europe, but will continue operations in Mexico and Latin America. The Wall Street Journal reports Forever 21 could close up to …

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Atlanta and Champaign, Ill. — Inspire Brands Inc., the parent company of Arby’s, has agreed to acquire Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. Terms of the transaction, expected to close by the end of October, were not disclosed. The Jimmy John’s Board of Directors, including founder and chairman Jimmy John Liautaud, unanimously approved the agreement. Jimmy John’s had $2.15 billion in U.S. sales last year across 2,803 stores, a roughly 50 percent increase in both sales and locations since 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal. Jimmy John’s, based in Champaign, opened its …

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