EQUITY RETAIL BLOG

How Does a Franchisee Find a Retail Space to Rent?

Franchisees continue to hunt for stores for rent across the commercial real estate markets of eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. While these operators play a critical role in retail real estate, Equity CRE Principals David Goodman and Rob Samtmann have observed that not all franchisees take a professional approach to site-selection. The veteran retail […]

Brick and mortar's next chapter

RetailDive.com, Daphne Howland As the COVID-19 era has vividly demonstrated, closing stores has, at best, a chilling effect on shopping. In April — a month when, unlike March or May, most if not all nonessential retailers closed down — retail sales as measured by the U.S. Commerce Department and tracked by Retail Dive plummeted 16%. […]

Instacart raises $225 million in new funding

Instacart announced last week that it raised $225 million in new financing as consumer demand for online grocery delivery and pickup services has experienced an “unprecedented surge” since the COVID-19 outbreak. The investment, led by DST Global and General Catalyst, along with existing investor D1 Capital Partners, raised the company’s valuation to $13.7 billion. According […]

Kimco sells part of its stake in Albertsons

Kimco Realty reported last week that it received $156 million as part of Apollo Global Management’s $1.75 billion purchase of Albertsons convertible preferred stock, a transaction that took place in May. As a result, Kimco’s interest in Albertsons decreased from 9.29% to 7.5%. Kimco also reported that Albertsons used $1.68 billion in net proceeds from […]

Tenant Rep Brokers Wear Many Hats—and Some of Them May Surprise You

What is retail tenant representation all about? At a high level, the job description is simple: Find great real estate for your clients, push for favorable lease terms—and seal the deal. And yet that broad overview doesn’t actually capture the nuance and complexity involved in professional tenant representation. Tenant rep brokers wear many hats. Even […]

Aldi to launch Curbside Pickup Service

Aldi announced that it plans to launch Curbside Grocery Pickup service at nearly 600 stores in 35 states by the end of July. The service will enable customers to order via Aldi’s Instacart page or mobile app, and Aldi employees will pack the groceries and bring them out to customers’ vehicles. The decision came after […]

Giant to open new store in Richboro, Bucks County, PA

The Philadelphia Business Journal reported that Giant plans to open a new 50,000 square foot store at Richboro Plaza in Bucks County. The shopping center was formerly anchored by Murray’s Richboro Market, which closed two years ago and was about 25,000 square feet. Before Murray’s, Shop n Bag occupied the space for several years. A […]

Is force majeure a reason to break a commercial lease?

With the onset of the global pandemic, questions related to lease clauses involving force majeure—literally, “superior force” but often interpreted as “acts of God”—loom in retail real estate: Does the pandemic qualify as a force majeure event? If so, are tenants justified in declining to pay rent? What protection do these clauses provide to landlords? […]

Target digital sales jump 141% in fiscal first quarter

Target reported last week that it experienced double-digit sales gains in its fiscal 2020 first quarter, led by growth in online pickup and delivery, especially in food and beverage. Online sales climbed 141% compared to the same quarter last year. However, investments related to the coronavirus, including customer and employee safety, worker compensation, supply chain […]

Private equity firm to purchase minority stake in Albertsons

Albertsons, the parent company for supermarket banners like Acme, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and several others, announced last week that it plans to sell a 17.5% stake in the company to private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The transaction is expected to close by mid-June. Albertsons is owned by an investment group that includes Kimco and […]