🟠 Steve O'Neill’s Post

More #brickandmortar #retailer expansion news! "#Retailers and #restaurants alike made headlines in July with #store #expansions and new formats. Here are the major stories as reported by CSA, starting with the most recent." #larrytheleasinglawyer

Waitrose & Partners reveals £1bn expansion plans 👏 The British grocery retailer plans to open 100 new convenience stores over the next three years as part of a £1bn investment. The grocer is set to open its first new store in over six years in Hampton Hill, London, this year and has revealed it will refurbish almost half of its estate. It will focus on upgrading service counters, enhancing its wine selection, offer more space for on-demand grocery and give more flexibility to respond to local demand. Executive Director, James Bailey commented: “Waitrose will always offer fantastic food, but the groundwork we have undertaken behind the scenes in recent years means we can now focus on growth through new shops and ensuring our existing ones are providing great shopping experiences that match the quality of our products." “The transformation of our Finchley Road store marks the next evolution of our journey to create a great shopping experience for our customers, underpinned by a high-quality product offering tailored to the local area, and the quality service we are synonymous with." “In designing the store, we have taken time to understand how our customers like to shop, and used this knowledge to introduce new concepts that will be tested and rolled out nationally as we continue to work towards the Waitrose of the future.” CEO, Nish Kankiwala added: "As our retail driven plan continues to gain traction, our growing number of shoppers and increasing customer satisfaction scores are clear indicators of its success." “This is a result of our unrelenting focus on improving the customer experience of our retail businesses, taking the love that exists for both brands and making sure customers are rewarded with better shops, the highest quality products, and the best service.” #News #Food #Grocery #Retail #Growth #Investment #Strategy

More #brickandmortar expansion news! "#Retailers and #restaurants alike made headlines in August with #store #expansions and new formats. Here are the major stories as reported by CSA, starting with the most recent." #larrytheleasinglawyer

As the retail industry ebbs & flows, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞 gives an update on the new stores coming for: • 7 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧: Looking to build 500 "Food Forward" stores from 2025 to 2027. • 𝐁𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐡 & 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝: Coming back with physical brick & mortar stores . • 𝐑𝐄𝐈: Announcing their store openings in 2025 & 2026 in WA, CA, CO & NY. • 𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐀 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲: Planning to expand by 400 more stores over the next few years. And others. So while we are seeing more and more bankruptcies & store closures hitting certain retail categories, others like those above are doing well and are taking advantage of the ever so changing retail landscape. #Retail #RetailExpansions #StoreOpenings #StoreExpansions #7Eleven #BedBathAndBeyond #REI #ULTABeauty #ULTA #ChainStoreAge #CommercialRealEstate #CRE #ROICommercialRealEstate

🏪7-Eleven implements closures and sale-leaseback program amidst a “Big Gulp” of strategy change. 😲Your corner Slurpee supplier might be closing its doors as 7-Eleven plans to shutter 444 stores in North America. 💰Plus, they are also implementing a sale-leaseback plan developed to generate a profit of $520 million. The deal is expected to close in February of next year. The company didn’t reveal where the closures and sale-leasebacks are located but they did indicate they continue to open stores “where customers are looking for more convenience.” (via Retail Dive) The initiative comes alongside the company’s rejection of Alimentation Couche-Tard’s $37 billion bid to acquire them, and a revised offer reported to be as high as $47 billion. Meanwhile, 7-11 is also planning on taking the company public. Interesting stuff! ⛽It’ll be sad to see so many 7-Elevens close. What’s your favorite 7-Eleven purchase or Slurpee flavor? 📍Read more here https://bit.ly/4dVc4eN

What channel could add nearly 5000 stores to a food & drink #manufacturer's customer base? The fastest growing bricks & mortar channel currently has to be "Variety stores" - those discount stores traditionally associated with selling vast ranges of #generalmerchandise at amazing prices - but who now are expanding their #food and #drink ranges rapidly. In the #privatelabel sector, UK retailers such as B&M Retail, Poundland & Dealz, and TJ Morris T/A Homebargains, have launched some great #ownbrand products over recent years, with many new products appearing in 2024. 🔅Many categories are covered, especially ambient, pet, and household. 🔅We are now seeing some PL in chill, such as #foodtogo and #readymeals in Home Bargains. 🔅Designs are appealing, packaging quality is good, and "exclusive brands" are used, much in the same way as at #aldi and #lidl. 🔅Prices are on occasions lower than Aldi, but are mainly pitched in between the discounters and the main supermarkets. 🔅Quality is OK - but definitely an opportunity to work with them on improvements. Last week I saw the first PL product in the fastest growing European retailer, Action - coffee pods under the Palazzo exclusive brand. Action's volumes are huge - an attractive proposition for any PL manufacturer. B&M have around 755 UK stores currently, targeting 1200. Poundland have 845. Home Bargains have nearly 600, targeting 800-1000, and Action have 2650 across many European countries. Surely a sector for all #suppliers to have on their radar right now. #supermarkets #ukretail #competition #opportunity #sales #FMCG #discount #brands International Private Label Consult (IPLC)

Unfortunate to see the iconic Fred Segal be the latest to bite the Chapter 7 bait. Even more unfortunate is that they are far from being the first or the last to take this drastic step in the industry. Cymbio doesn't only help brands onboard to retailers, but we also help retailers onboard brands. With our intricate integration capabilities, we are able to streamline all product upload, imagery, taxonomy, inventory, orders, returns, data (and many more) processes to ensure all SLAs are met. Buying and Implementation teams - Do you think there is room for improvement in your current brand onboarding process? Is imagery something that you also go back-and-forth with your brands about? Are the product descriptions uploaded up to par? Correcting Data errors, how long does it take you on average? If any of the above sounds all too familiar - Reach out to me! Let's see how we can better current workflows and save time, money, and gray hairs.

[Avoiding the same mistake. Opening more stores caused Edgars' downfall before it was put into Business Rescue and (only) the profitable branches were sold. At the time Edgars opened many more shops but the group Turnover stayed the same (showing that the market was saturated) leading to greater expenses in terms of rent, salaries etc. which pushed Edgars into a loss situation] Margins before market share — it’s not a space race, says Retailability CEO The big retailers continue to roll out stores despite a tough economic environment. But Edgars is holding back on space expansion, having decided not to chase market share at the cost of bottom-line profit. Edgars has reduced its coverage by just over 18,000m² of space and closed three underperforming stores in the past nine months, all in smaller outlying areas... [Its stores also had lots of wasted space - other retailers had better Revenue per square meter - which is why they are reducing the size of the stores - the same stock quantities in a smaller shop thereby saving on rent and also negotiating better rental rates per m3] https://lnkd.in/dsB595iv

Look what Pennsylvania grocer is growing👀 Regional grocer chain, Weis Markets is making some moves in light of increased profits…thanks to a helping holiday hand from Easter🐣 Weis Markets will begin construction of six new stores with each planned to open in 2025. The company will also invest in five new fuel centers! Jonathan H. Weis, chairman, president, and CEO of Weis Markets further noted: "Our first quarter 2024 results, which benefited from the Easter holiday shift, are in line with our expectations thanks to the continuing efforts of associates at every level of our company," said Weis. "We continue to navigate marketplace trends of product cost and third-party services inflation, declining government benefits, and the increasing mix of our pharmacy retail business, which has a lower margin than our grocery business. More good news for grocery and cheers to their diversified approach to running the business to keep it profitable! #grocery #storebrands #growthmindset

John Lewis Partnership has teamed up with Caffè Nero to open its coffee shops in John Lewis and Waitrose & Partners stores in a bid to attract customers. #johnlewis #caffenero