Gilbert, Ariz. — Thompson Thrift has broken ground on The Gilmore, a $225 million mixed-use development located in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert. The 35-acre project will comprise approximately 200,000 square feet of grocery, restaurant and retail space, 300 luxury apartment homes and a hotel. The development will feature a main street-style entrance with covered walkways, common areas, murals by local artists and landscaped outdoor gathering spaces. More than 25 retail leases have already been signed including Better Buzz Coffee; Handel’s Ice Cream; Jersey Mike’s; Sweathouz; Rebel Wine Lounge; Square …
Retailers
Greensboro, N.C. — CBL Properties has announced that four new restaurants and two new retailers will be joining the tenant lineup at its Friendly Center, a 1.3-million-square-foot regional center located in Greensboro. All four restaurants — Cooper’s Hawk, First Watch, North Italia and French artisan bakery Tous les Jours — as well as LEGO, plan to open by the end of the year, while Rowan anticipates opening this summer. Additional openings are expected in 2025. Current tenants at Friendly Center — which comprises more than 140 stores and services — include …
Dallas — Smoothie King has opened 13 new stores across eight different states thus far in 2025. Seven of the new store openings are located in Smoothie King’s home state of Texas. The company has also secured 20 new store commitments, with approximately 60 percent of the signings obtained with existing franchises. The new agreement will span 15 different markets across 12 states, including multi-unit deals in Long Island, New York and Phoenix.
Webinar: Retail Bankruptcy & Restructuring — Lessons from 2024 & What’s Ahead
The March 14 Shopping Center Business webinar “Retail Bankruptcy & Restructuring — Lessons from 2024 & What’s Ahead” covered the state of a retail industry that is both “frenetic and cautious,” in the words of Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group. Tune in to the six-minute mark of the on-demand webinar for Dana’s impressive summary of the latest news in retail. Panelists covered key insights into the evolving retail landscape, including the trends for bankruptcies and liquidations in 2024 and whether those trajectories are likely to continue into 2025. Economic …
Chicago — Retail closures are at a cyclical high, totaling a whopping 9,900 business shutdowns in 2024, according to JLL’s fourth-quarter 2024 retail report entitled “United States Retail Market Dynamics.” For the first time in several years, store closures outpaced store openings in a calendar year. Fabric and crafts retailer JOANN, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection twice within a year, is shuttering all 800 stores, while major department store chain Macy’s will close 150 stores over the next three years, with 66 closures anticipated in 2025 alone. The highest number …
Restaurants Execute Expansion Plans with Measured Approaches
To say that the restaurant industry is sending mixed signals could be the understatement of the year. The National Restaurant Association expected restaurant sales in 2024 to top $1 trillion for the first time ever. But as the year has progressed, the number of operators who anticipated sales growth in the coming months dipped to 28 percent in August from 40 percent in April amid inflation and economic uncertainty, according to the organization’s latest performance index survey. At the same time, the fortunes of the major restaurant segments are largely …
Webinar: Market Outlook — Insights on Retail, Consumers, REITs, NNN & Shopping Centers
The Sept. 27 Shopping Center Business webinar “Market Outlook — Insights on Retail, Consumers, REITs, NNN & Shopping Centers” covered the state of the retail industry, focusing on consumer behavior and the financial health of retailers. Be sure to tune in to the 6-minute mark of this webinar for a clear-eyed, informative breakdown of key retail trends from moderator Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group. Panelists discussed a shift in consumer spending toward value and discount retailers, with a slowdown in luxury goods consumption. The webinar also explored challenges in the retail sector, including increased …
High occupancy rates and prohibitive development costs continue to challenge expansion-minded retailers. Only 4.5 percent of total retail space in the United States was available for lease at the end of August, according to CoStar Group. That represents a 35 percent reduction in retail availability over the past decade amid greater absorption and space being removed from the market. Combined with limited new shopping center development over the past 15 years, the tight conditions are pushing retail real estate experts to get creative when searching for ways to help brands …
Faris Lee Investments: The Time to Buy and Sell is Now
Finding the ideal time to buy or sell a retail investment is next to impossible. This task seems to be made even harder as sellers long for the prices and demand of 2020 and 2021, while buyers wish for the interest rates associated with that time period. But the past is the past. Retail investors can engage in shoulda, woulda, coulda until the cows come home, but it’s not a productive exercise. What is productive is operating with today’s fundamentals in mind. Part of doing that, notes Shaun Riley, Jeff …
Store closures have been making headlines — from drugstores to restaurants and big box retailers. While some worry this is a sign of a slowing retail market, disposing of excess space quickly at the right price saves companies valuable time and money. Closures are not limited to retailers that are struggling — healthy retailers and restaurants shutter locations where their prototype may have evolved or the demographic makeup of the neighborhood has shifted. Mark Reeder, executive vice president at SRS Real Estate Partners, has provided disposition solutions for national retailers …