EQUITY RETAIL BLOG

US online grocery sales total $8.1 billion in November

US online grocery sales totaled $8.1 billion in November, according to a Brick Meets Click / Mercatus grocery shopping survey. Monthly sales have remained above $8 billion since May, led by grocery delivery and pickup services, which generated $5.9 billion, or 73% of November’s online sales. “Concerns about contracting the virus, stay-at-home orders or retail […]

Five Most Important Retail Events of 2020

The Five Most Important Retail Events of 2020 Had Almost Nothing to Do With COVID-19 Oh, what a year — the coronavirus pandemic dominated the headlines in 2020, and rightfully so. However, the year was also punctuated by some important retail milestones that had nothing to do with the pandemic itself, milestones that, when one […]

Philly welcomes Aldi's 11th and Lidl's 2nd stores

Discount grocers Aldi and Lidl opened stores in Philadelphia last week. Aldi’s new store near the Divine Lorraine apartments at Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue opened on Thursday, representing its 11th city location. Lidl opened a store on Wednesday at Roosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road in Northeast Philly. It was the company’s second location in […]

Restaurant for Lease: Six Considerations when Leasing Second-Generation Space

“When it comes to a restaurant for lease, the best strategy is to be the second operator in that space.” The sage advice above comes from a veteran commercial real estate investor out of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania—one of many experienced restaurateurs who avoids building from scratch whenever choosing sites for a new restaurant for lease. The […]

Giant's parent company to acquire online grocer FreshDirect

Giant Food’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize, and private equity firm Centerbridge Partners announced yesterday that they plan to acquire online grocer FreshDirect. Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize would be FreshDirect’s majority owner. FreshDirect operates out of a 400,000 square foot fulfillment center and campus that it opened in the Bronx, NY in 2018, and the company will […]

Wealth From Health

Walmart, Kohl’s And Big Drug Chains Look For Wealth From Health Who knew that a key to retail health and wellness was health and wellness itself? More and more retailers are expanding their efforts in providing goods and services to keep both their customers and their bottom lines healthy. While CVS may have been the […]

Instacart reportedly planning $30 billion IPO

Reuters reported earlier this week that Instacart, the online grocery delivery company, is preparing for an initial public offering valued at about $30 billion. The report states that Instacart has engaged with Goldman Sachs to lead the IPO, which could be launched early next year. The IPO comes after California voters approved Proposition 22, which […]

Giant Heirloom Market may be headed for Strawbridge's space

Jacob Adelman of The Philadelphia Inquirer posted an article yesterday saying that a company linked to Alterra Property Group is working on a deal to buy part of the historic Strawbridge’s department store building from PREIT, possibly to lease it to Giant’s Heirloom Market. Adelman cited PREIT’s bankruptcy documents that refer to the property as […]

Amazon launches in-garage grocery delivery

Amazon announced yesterday that it plans to expand its contactless Key In-Garage Delivery service and add grocery to the mix. The service allows Prime members to have their Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh online delivery orders placed in their garage. The program first launched without grocery in 50 cities last year, allowing Prime members with […]

Walmart's four test centers to pilot new tech and in-store improvements

Walmart announced that it has earmarked four stores as “test centers” for piloting new technology as well as in-store and omnichannel retail concepts and practices. According to Supermarket News, Walmart Senior Vice President John Crecelius explained that the test center stores will attempt to find solutions that enable Walmart stores to operate as physical shopping […]