Food Lion to close four Savannah stores

January 12, 2012 - 12:05pm

By Adam Van Brimmersavannahnow.com Copyright 2012 Savannah Now. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

January 12, 2012 - 12:05pm

Food Lion to close four local stores

Food Lion's parent company, Delhaize America, will close four area stores within the next 30 days as part of a larger "repositioning" strategy, the grocery giant announced Thursday.

Among the stores affected are two of the company's newest and most bally-hooed local stores: The market at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Gwinnett Street that opened last March and the Southbridge location that opened in 2009.

The Food Lion in the Eisenhower Square shopping center and another store in Rincon were also on the closure list, which included 113 stores in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and West Virginia.

"Food Lion is focused on repositioning our business for future growth," said Cathy Green Burns, president of Food Lion, in a press release. "By closing underperforming stores, we will continue to position Food Lion for success, especially in light of our brand strategy results."

Local reaction was not so positive. Word of the MLK store closing swept through Savannah City Council chambers Thursday. Alderman Van Johnson, who represents the district, called the news "devastating."

Added Mayor Edna Johnson: "The city is obviously very disappointed with this news. The store served an area that was underserved, including public housing residents, senior citizens and SCAD students."

The MLK location has attracted "local interest," according to Jackson."That is why we are going to continue to look on the bright side and not give up on it," she said.

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You can read the article in its original context, complete with asinine public commentary, at Food Lion to close four local stores.

A. Joseph Marshall
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Advisor
Savannah, Ga

Retail Space Availability in U.S. to Fall Next Year, CBRE Says

By Brian Louis

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) --

Summary of article: The number of vacant space in shopping centers (strip malls, pad sites, etc) will decrease next year for the first time in 7 years. This follows strong industrial growth and increased consumer spending.

Important quotes:

Space available for leasing at U.S. local shopping centers will decline next year for the first time since 2005 as a growing economy spurs retailer expansion, commercial-property brokerage CBRE Group Inc. said.

The availability rate, a measure of space being marketed and ready for tenant construction within a year, will fall to 12.4 percent for neighborhood and community shopping centers at the end of 2012. That’s down from a peak of 13.3 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to a forecast from CBRE Econometric

Advisors, a unit of Los Angeles-based CBRE Group.

Purchases at U.S. retailers rose 0.5 percent in October, following a 1.1 percent increase the month before, Commerce Department figures showed last week. Sales at electronics stores climbed the most in two years.

A lack of shopping-center construction will also help landlords rent existing space, according to Abigail Rosenbaum, an economist at CBRE Econometric Advisors in Boston.

Read the full article at Retail Space Availability in U.S. to Fall Next Year

A. Joseph Marshall
Coldwell Banker Commercial
Commercial Real Estate Advisor
Savannah, Ga

Retail Space Expansion Lowest in 40 Years

From Bloomberg on 6/22/11. To contact the reporters on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.net; Alex Tanzi in Washington at atanzi@bloomberg.net.



“There is no incentive to add more retail space,” said Sohn, who is also vice chairman of Forever 21 Inc., a Los Angeles-based closely held clothing chain. “The probability of getting financing for a mall is still low. Shoppers have become more price-conscious and they’re looking more than buying.”

While retail sales have rebounded and exceeded pre- recession levels, new shopping space may “continue to be minimal,” said Chris Macke, senior real estate strategist at Washington-based CoStar. A drop in vacancy rates at malls and a rise in rental prices will depend on how quickly hiring picks up, he said. Credit is “still difficult,” and “there just isn’t a lot of demand to justify” store expansions.