EQUITY RETAIL BLOG

Albertsons and Rite Aid announce merger; new company to have $83 billion in sales

Albertsons and Rite Aid announced yesterday that the companies plan to merge into a new publicly traded entity with an estimated $83 billion in annual sales. It is expected that the deal will close during the second half of the calendar year. Here are some of the details of the planned merger: Albertsons’ private […]

NEW STORES - November/December 2017

There are certainly fewer openings in November and December due to the focus on the holiday shopping season. That fact is reflected in the shorter list below. Please note, this list was compiled using a Google Alert for “new stores”. The list is not guaranteed to be complete, but serves as a reference for the retail […]

15 Companies Opening New Stores

This article provides a good accounting of 15 companies opening new stores. While many retailers are closing stores, some are rapidly building new locations, with at least one — Dollar General — adding as many as 900 stores this year. A large majority of the retailers that are opening new stores this year are discounters, including […]

Kohl's Wants to Partner With Grocery Stores

This link is for the CNBC story of Kohl’s excess space, as it right-sizes its stores. One of the concepts they believe would work nicely as a co-tenant in this excess space is grocery. There will be many factors to consider including the following as Best Buy knows all to well when they tried to […]

Amazon introduces home delivery from Whole Foods

On Thursday Amazon introduced free two-hour delivery of certain Whole Foods Market items between the hours of 8am and 10pm in select zip codes in Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas and Virginia Beach. Orders can be made via primenow.com or the Prime Now app. Amazon expects to expand the service across the U.S. later this year. According […]

Amazon Go: first cashier-less store opens in Seattle

Late last month Amazon opened its first Amazon Go store to the public. The store has few employees and no cashiers. Located at company headquarters in Seattle, customers with the Go app scan their smartphones and enter the store through a gate. Once inside they are free to roam the 1,800 square foot store and […]

Kroger to sell its 784 convenience stores

Kroger announced last week that it reached an agreement to sell its convenience store business for $2.15 billion to EG Group, a petroleum and convenience store retailer based in Great Britain. The deal includes 784 stores across 18 states. The EG Group plans to continue operating the stores under their current banners (Turkey Hill, Kwik […]

Walmart to increase hourly wages, expand parental benefits, close 63 Sam's Club stores

Walmart said earlier this month that it plans to increase its starting wage for all hourly workers in the U.S. to $11 per hour , pay a one-time bonus of up to $1,000 to select employees, and expand benefits for parental leave. The increased starting rate is scheduled to become effective in February for all […]

Kohl's plans to add groceries to select stores

According to reports, Kohl’s is looking for “well capitalized companies” that it can partner with to offer groceries and drive traffic to its stores. Kohl’s has streamlined their offerings in hundreds of stores in recent years, and several of those locations have excess space that can be used to showcase grocery items that draw customers […]

Kenny Family ShopRites giving bonuses as a result of tax reform

Kenny Family ShopRites, which operates six supermarkets in Delaware, announced earlier this month that as a result of the new tax reform legislation, it would give $150 to 1,000 of its non-management workers, and invest $150,000 in employee training and development. According to President and CEO Christopher Kenny, “Our ability to provide bonuses and training […]