Food Trade News
Amazon Signs Lease For D.C. Retail Store
According to a recent story in the Washington Business Journal, Amazon has signed a lease for 8,000 plus square foot retail space in northwest DC. The brick-and-mortar storefront will be part of a mixed-use development at 14th and Riggs Streets NW, joining a slew of other retail tenants such as Sephora, Bluestone Lane, and Parachute Home. The property, which is a project from nonprofit health clinic Whitman Walker Health and Fivesquares Development, will be called The Liz in honor of the actress and HIV activist Elizabeth Taylor, and will also consist of a seven-story structure comprised of residential apartments and 60,000 square feet of office space.
Amazon has already reportedly signed a number of leases for a new grocery concept in Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia.
Weis Markets Announces Purchase of Two Thomas’ Stores In Central PA
Weis Markets today announced it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with T. C. D. Realty, Inc. to purchase two of their supermarket locations. The locations are the 50,000 square foot Thomas’ Foodtown in Dallas, PA and the 20,000 square foot Thomas’ Food Basics in Shavertown, PA. Thomas’ will continue to operate two of their other stores, in Shickshinny, PA and Hazleton, PA.
The Sunbury, PA based retailer said it expects the transaction will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019. Once the purchase is complete, Weis Markets will convert and reopen the Dallas location and will not reopen the Shavertown location. The store in Shavertown had recently been converted to the Food Basics discount banner.
“We have great respect for the operators and associates of Thomas’ Foodtown and Food Basics in Dallas and Shavertown and look forward to continuing to serve the Dallas area,” said Jonathan Weis, Weis Markets’ chairman, president and CEO. “We look forward to interviewing their associates for possible employment with our company.”
The Thomas’ Foodtown purchase continues an “infill” acquisition strategy that began in 2016 with Weis’ acquisition of 38 Food Lion stores in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware, as well as five Baltimore-area Mars Super Markets and two Nell’s locations in Central PA.
The sale of the Thomas operation also continues the acquisition of Pennsylvania independents by larger chain operators. In the past 12 months Weis competitor Giant/Martin’s acquired stores from independents Darrenkamp’s, Ferguson & Hassler and Musser’s.
When the store reopens, Weis Markets will operate seven stores in Luzerne County. Weis is the share of market leader in Northeast PA.
Lidl Accelerates Mid-Atlantic Store Openings With 6 News Units
After a sluggish debut, Lidl has begun to pick up steam by offering a revamped merchandising plan (featuring more American products), a smaller footprint (20,000-25,000 square feet vs. its original 36,000 square foot model) and an evolving real estate philosophy in which it is now willing to lease locations rather than adhering to its initial decision to acquire all real estate and build on those sites. It had also originally chosen to build many of its stores in the same trading areas as two more established and successful discount retailers – Walmart and Aldi – making Lidl’s entry that much more difficult.
The German discounter, which debuted in the U.S. in June 2017 and planned to have more than 100 stores open in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast during its first year, has faced setbacks primarily in its ability to generate the level of sales that many predicted.
After being criticized for not being in touch with the American consumer by its own leader, Klaus Gehrig, CEO of the Lidl’s parent company, Schwarz Gruppe, Lidl moved company veteran Johanne Fieber into the U.S. chief executive post and added Roman Heini to the newly created post of chairman of its U.S. business. The collective moves have seemed to help.
Despite the early challenges, Lidl is still prepared to spend earnest capital to grow. Trade analysts believe that the privately-held merchant has spent as much as $2 billion to acquire land, build stores, construct three distribution centers and hire a management team that is based in an impressive headquarters building in Arlington, VA.
It also made a significant investment when it acquired 27 Best Market stores (24 on Long Island) earlier this year and announced plans to convert those stores to the Lidl banner over the next three years. The first of those stores – Babylon and Huntingdon – will open early next year. Also opening early next year as Lidl units will be two stores – Plainview and Center Moriches – that Best Market acquired from A&P in 2016 (but had not yet opened).
The discount retailer is also reportedly interested in acquiring several Shoppers stores in the Baltimore-Washington market that current owner UNFI has put on the sales block.
In addition to the Best Market purchase, Lidl earlier this year announced that it will open 21 new stores (not including the planned conversions of those Long Island units) with a heavy focus on Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, three states where Lidl had only operated a handful of stores.
During the past three months, some of those planned new stores have opened, including units in Trooper, PA; Royersford, PA; York, PA; Lacey, NJ; College Park, MD; and Hagerstown, MD. It will also open an additional New Jersey store in Bergenfield; an additional Pennsylvania unit in Philadelphia (East Butler Street); and five more stores in Maryland – Catonsville, Lanham, Nottingham, Waldorf and District Heights, which opens on October 9.
With the inclusion of the Best Market stores, Lidl U.S. now operates 107 stores.
Stop & Shop Unveils 21 Suffolk County Upgrades As Part Of $133M Plan
Stop & Shop, the Metro New York market’s second largest grocery retailer, has completed upgrades at 21 of its 50 Long Island stores in the two-county region where it is the share of market leader.
Stop & Shop currently operates 27 stores in Suffolk County and the following 21 locations are included in the improvement effort: Bay Shore; Coram, Deer Park; East Islip; East Northport; East Setauket; Farmingville; Hampton Bays; Holbrook; Islandia; Lake Ronkonkoma; Medford; Miller Place; Northport; Riverhead; Rocky Point; Sayville; Shirley; Smithtown; South Setauket; and West Islip.
The completion of the major remodeling program was celebrated earlier this month with a ribbon cutting at its Smithtown store. The store renovations represent a $133 million investment for the largest of Ahold Delhaize USA’s brands. Part of that spend includes the hiring of 350 part-time associates and the promotion of nearly 100 current associates to full-time positions.
“The remodeling of our Long Island stores is a key milestone in our journey to refresh the Stop & Shop brand for the future and to strengthen our position as market leader,” said Stop & Shop president Gordon Reid, who was named to the top job at Stop & Shop in July after serving as president of sister firm Giant Food, Landover, MD, for nearly six years. “We’re excited for local customers to enjoy the changes we’ve brought to Long Island like even more fresh produce, lower prices and new solutions to help make things easy for our customers to get their shopping done and get back to what matters most.”
The Long Island upgrades are part of the regional chain’s “Reimagining Stop & Shop” strategy, a multi-year initiative to refresh the brand’s more than 400 stores across New England and Metro New York. Long Island is the second market to unveil Stop & Shop’s new look, following 21 stores that were remodeled in 2018 in the Hartford, CT market.
All told, Stop & Shop plans to spend nearly $2 billion to upgrade its entire fleet over the next four years. The remainder of Stop & Shop’s other Long Island stores will also be remodeled as part of that overall capital improvement initiative.
While the level of store improvements vary by location, highlights of the 21 newly refreshed Stop & Shop stores include: expanded produce sections; more prepared foods; wide selection of local and craft beers; in-store cafes; dedicated Italian sections; increased selection of specialty cheeses; convenience cases containing essential items; faster checkout (with the chain’s Scan-It! mobile app); and same day online pick-up so orders placed online at peapod.com can be picked up at the store as soon as four hours later.
As far as progress concerning Stop & Shop’s agreement to acquire Long Island rival King Kullen, the wait continues as the Federal Trade Commission is still reviewing the deal which was originally announced in January 2019.
However, in the past few months, King Kullen closed two Suffolk County units – Lake Ronkonkoma and Brookhaven – and plans to close its North Babylon store on September 26.
Wawa Plans $240 Million Northern VA Expansion
On September 24, Wawa broke ground on its newest project in Vienna, VA while also unveiling plans for a major expansion effort in Northern Virginia, one of the nation’s most affluent areas. The Wawa, PA-based merchant said it plans to open 40 stores in Northern Virginia alone over the next 15 years. The fast-growing company reportedly plans to spend approximately $240 million on its Northern Virginia cap-ex plan yielding about 2-3 stores per year. Currently, four other Fairfax County Wawa units are in the pipeline.
The 6,290 square foot Vienna store, located at 465 Maple Ave., will be Wawa’s first ever retrofit. The structure was built in 1974 and most recently served as a Coldwell Banker real estate office. The retrofit will not offer gasoline (as most newer Wawas do), but instead feature Tesla charging stations for up to eight vehicles.
Wawa began its expansion into the Washington D.C market in late 2017 with its first District-based store on 19th St. NW. It currently operates four stores in the nation’s capital. A fifth unit in the Adams Morgan section of Washington is slated to open later this month and another store on Thomas Circle NW is currently under construction. None of those stores offer gas.
The company has long been the convenience store share of market leader in the Delaware Valley and began an aggressive expansion beyond its core market in 2012 when it opened its first store in Florida. Those stores are performing at a high level and Wawa has continued to build stores in the Sunshine State where it currently operates approximately 165 units.
The company, which opened its first convenience store in Folsom, PA in 1964, now operates about 850 stores in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and Washington, DC.
