Vienna, Va. — The Ratner Cos., the parent company of salon concepts such as Hair Cuttery, Bubbles and Salon Cielo, plans to trim its 844-store portfolio by 10 percent. The company plans to maintain a presence in all existing markets as it looks to shift resources to its best-performing salons. Ratner Cos. cites “intense competition and rising operating costs,” as well as shifting consumer shopping methods, as the basis for its decision. The firm has engaged in discussions with landlords to renegotiate terms or exit some of its leases. In …
Philadelphia — Five Below Inc. plans to open 180 stores this year, which would grow the Philadelphia-based retailer’s footprint by 20 percent. The announcement came during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. Specific plans for the openings were not disclosed. At the same time, Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Five Below, said the company also acquired the e-commerce platform, fulfillment operation and certain other assets of Hollar.com.
Framingham, Mass. — Bose Corp. will close all of its 54 stores in the U.S., as well as many remaining locations in Australia, Japan and Europe in the coming months, totaling 119 brick-and-mortar locations. The Framingham-based company, which specializes in audio engineering, said the closures are due to “dramatic” shifts to online shopping. Bose opened its first store in 1993 and currently has its biggest concentration of stores in the Northeast (10), Southern California (nine) and Florida (seven). “Originally, our retail stores gave people a way to experience, test and talk …
Fort Worth, Texas — Pier 1 Imports Inc., a home goods retailer based in Fort Worth, has announced its intention to shutter up to 450 stores, which represents nearly half of its current store count of 936. The retailer also plans to close a select number of distribution centers and reduce its corporate expenses, which includes corporate layoffs. Pier 1 says that its efforts will help right-size the company’s omni-channel operations and allow it to move forward with an “appropriately sized store footprint.” Pier 1 has hired a third-party liquidator …
New York City — Newmark Group Inc., a division of New York City-based real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank (NKF), has acquired Harper Dennis Hobbs Holdings Ltd. (HDH), a London-based firm specializing in retail acquisitions. NKF operates numerous offices across the United States, and the acquisition of the HDH opens opportunities to service European tenants seeking access to North American consumers. More than 50 employees, including 30 brokers and staff, will join Newmark Group as a result of the acquisition, though the firm will continue to operate as Harper Dennis …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …