Retail/restaurant chains mushrooming near you?

[G W North]

What chains are rapidly expanding in your area? One of the most noticeable in the Toronto area would be Quiznos. Quiznos only came to this area about three years ago, and now there are dozens of them. There are around 10 in downtown Toronto now alone.

Best Buy is also interesting in that they opened their first 7 or 8 metro Toronto locations simultaneously in the Fall of 2002.

[bobliocatt]

unfortunately, Target & Super Wal-mart in Jacksonville.

[urbanguy]

Yep theres a lot of chains opening and have been opening up here theres a 3 story urban mega Wal-mart/Sams Clubs underconstruction in my neighborhood another is set to go underconstruction in a central suburb soon as well as a Best Buy, there are also many chain retail and restaurants that have and will be opening as well.

A couple others:

Cartridge World (Australian)

Jackies Kitchen (Jackie Chans restaurant chain) *First outside of Asia and in USA

Diesel is opening another store

Ginza Kimuraya Bakery (Japanese chain) *first in the USA

Sarpino's Pizza (Canadian) *First in USA

The Cheesecake Factory opened up maybe last year i think?

More Jambas, Starbucks, Tullys, & Seattles Best on the way

Round One (Japanese chain) plans to build an 80,000- to 90,000-square foot entertainment center *featuring bowling, video games, karaoke, billiards and food complex it will be the first in the USA

etc etc there are tons

[Brickell]

First thing I thought of was Quiznos as well.

I saw the first one maybe a year ago and now they're everywhere.

Also Starbucks is finally working it's way into the Miami market.

Publix is building a lot of new stores, but that's not new.

I can't think of anything else that's really impacting the market.

[Allan]

Quiznos and Starbucks. Other than that, I can't think of any. Detroit seems to get passed up by a lot of large chains...although I can't figure out why. There's 5.5 million people in the metro...that is enough to support more. Oh well, I generally prefer local stores anyway.

[DruidCity]

Publix is the main one. 6 months ago, there were none here. Now, two are open, a third will open within a month, and a fourth is rumored, plus there are rumors of Publix possibly buying out the Bruno's supermarket chain, which has 6 stores in the Tuscaloosa area.

Later this month, a Jason's Deli will open in Tuscaloosa, just the second in Alabama. I've never been to one, though. We might get our first Barnes&Noble and Best Buy next year.

Since Birmingham recently passed the 1-million metro mark, some chains are moving in up there that are new to the state.

Bass Pro Shops has plans for locations in Leeds (Birmingham suburb) and Spanish Fort (Mobile suburb) in Alabama, and in a suburb of Jackson, MS.

[monsoon]

[sunshine]

Orlanda is under invasion of everything...

Costco

Walmart

Target

Starbucks.....................................................

endless list

[Allan]

There was actually an article in the paper about this today. The article basically says that metro Detroit is underserved by major retailers, and that many are looking to open new stores in the metro. It mentions Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco Warehouse, Best Buy, Kohl's, J.C. Penney and Target as stores that are looking to expand their presence in the metro.

Home Depot seems to expanding the fastest here. Heck, they even bothered to build a store in the Detroit city limits. No more going out to the suburbs for building materials. Maybe it will encourage more people to build in Detroit...you never know. Just as long as they keep all the big box stuff out on 7 Mile & 8 Mile away from the CBD I'll be happy.

[Sean Reynolds]

I don't get out of the city much. Salt Lake City really hasn't seen much expanding in the retail or restauarant chain. Why? I don't know. I mean we get a Target here and there, but nothing like our suburbs are getting.

In fact we'll be getting our first and only Walmart soon.

[Allan]

I don't get out of the city much. Salt Lake City really hasn't seen much expanding in the retail or restauarant chain. Why? I don't know. I mean we get a Target here and there, but nothing like our suburbs are getting.

In fact we'll be getting our first and only Walmart soon.

Major chains tend to overlook cities in favor of rapidly growing suburbs. The chains are just now begining to discover that there is a market in some of the older cities.

I feel sorry for you though...you're getting a Walmart.

[G W North]

I knew Detroit city was underserved, but I didn't know the metro area as a whole was underserved.

Another chain that opened multiple Toronto locations simulataneously was Sam's Club, which opened it's first four Canadian locations at the same time (or pretty much) in metro Toronto last fall.

[G W North]

Here's that article you mentioned.

-----------

BIG BOXES, BIG PLANS: National retailers look to expand in Michigan

May 6, 2004

BY GRETA GUEST

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Michigan consumers will have even more choices as mass merchants open dozens of new locations in the state this year.

RELATED CONTENT

Smaller-box national chains look to expand

Many big-box retailers, typically those that operate stores with more than 100,000 square feet of space, also are embarking on expansions and renovations of their existing stores as the overall economy and the retail segment in particular show more signs of improvement.

The growth seems fervent after years of store closings of established retailers such as Jacobson's, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney and Kmart.

"For several years, it was pretty grim. People weren't looking for sites," said Joan Primo, principal of the Strategic Edge,a retail development and market research consulting firm in Southfield. "I think what you are seeing is some of the pent-up building coming out of the recession."

The world's largest company, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is leading the way with an aggressive schedule to open 225 stores across the country this year.

In Michigan, 18 Wal-Mart supercenters, discount stores and Sam's Clubs will be built, expanded or relocated in Michigan, the majority of them outside the metro Detroit area, according to John Bisio, regional director of community affairs for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart. The company recently opened a Sam's Club store in Farmington Hills.

Other major retailers opening, expanding or renovating stores in Michigan this year include Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco Warehouse, Best Buy, Kohl's, J.C. Penney and Target.

Despite economic uncertainty, the demand for retail real estate will remain strong this year, according to a report by Marcus & Millichap,a real estate investment brokerage with offices in Southfield.

Marcus & Millichap says that about 65 percent of retail space finished in metro Detroit this year will be occupied by big-box home improvement stores, discounters and drugstores.

While it might seem there is an overabundance of stores in suburban Detroit, Bennett Terebelo, executive vice president of LaKritz-Weber & Co., a retail real estate consulting firm in Southfield, says there is room for much more.

"We are still under-retailed here compared to other parts of the country," said Terebelo, who has worked on projects for Kmart, Lowe's, J.C. Penney, Target and others. "We are still lacking in home improvement, mass merchandise and enclosed malls. There is a demand for each and every one of them."

After closing stores from 1999 to 2002 including one at Eastland Center in Harper Woods, J.C. Penney is expanding again. The company has 40 stores in Michigan, mostly in malls. The company is in negotiations to open a free-standing store in Roseville on Gratiot Avenue this fall.

"We are focusing on growing our market share," said J.C. Penney spokeswoman Christi Byrd Smith.

The company operates 1,020 stores with $17.7 billion in sales for 2003. The retailer plans to open 15 stores in 2004, the largest increase in the last five years. About half of these will be off-mall locations, which are about half the size of the typical 200,000-square-foot mall stores.

Metro Detroiters particularly have seen an increase in home improvement store locations, growth fueled in recent years by the strongest housing market on record. Both Lowe's and Home Depot started opening stores in Michigan 10 years ago.

Lowe's started slowly but has established a bigger presence in Michigan in the last five years, going from 10 stores in 1999 to 32 now. Based in Mooresville, N.C., the $30.8-billion retailer has more than 975 stores in 45 states.

Last year, the company opened 130 stores and plans to open 140 this year. It entered Chicago with three stores and added additional locations in "strategic markets like Los Angeles, New York, Detroit and Memphis," Tenn., its annual report says.

Lowe's opened stores in Sterling Heights and Scio Township this year. Stores are under construction in Commerce Township, Gaylord, Niles and Traverse City, said Lowe's spokeswoman Jennifer Smith.

The nation's largest home improvement retailer, Home Depot, opened two stores in Michigan last month, in Saginaw and Grand Haven, and opened a Detroit store in March. The company has 64 stores and 9,400 employees in Michigan.

John Mullen, Home Depot's regional vice president for its northeastern region that includes Detroit, said the company is looking for more sites in metro Detroit.

"We rely on demographics to decide where to go. . . Where is business available and where do we need to be," Mullen said. "We've never closed a building because of a failed real estate or business strategy."

Home Depot plans to spend $3.7 billion this year to add 175 new stores, renovate others and invest in new technology. The Atlanta-based retailer posts annual sales of $58.2 billion with 1,695 stores and 315,000 employees.

Where and when?

Because retailing has become so competitive, many growing retailers -- including Best Buy, Target, Kohl's and Costco -- are mum about where they will open next.

Best Buy, based in Minneapolis, plans to open 60 new stores nationwide this fiscal year including the one it opened in Holland in February.

And Target, which now has more than 1,220 U.S. stores, plans to open 53 more before the end of summer, eight of which will be in the SuperTarget format that combines groceries and general merchandise. It does not now operate a SuperTarget in Michigan.

Kohl's, the Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based retailer, plans to open 95 stores this year. It opened stores in Muskegon and Traverse City this month, but wouldn't talk about upcoming Michigan store openings.

Costco, based in Issaquah, Wash., operates 432 warehouses and plans to open as many as 10 stores by August. It opened a Commerce Township store in September, bring the total in Michigan to eight.

"We don't really like to talk about what may be coming because it is very competitive out there," said Jeff Elliott, spokesman for Costco Wholesale Corp.

[monsoon]

[G W North]

What is BJ's? Does it stand for something? I've never heard of it. We have Costco in Canada too, but they aren't new. They bought Price Club, which has been in the Toronto market since probably the late-1980s.

Most of our newer supermarkets are much larger than the older ones as well. They're probably not quite as large as Costco/Price Club, but considering they still concentrate almost exclusively on food, they're very large. Most of them (and even some of the older, smaller ones) are open 24 hours as well.

One chain Canada doesn't have is Target, and we no longer have K-Mart either. We're still oversaturated with discount dept. stores between Wal-Mart and Zellers though, so I can't really see a new chain invading (though you never know).

[Spartan]

In Spartanburg Walgreen's is the most noticable chain expansion.

[monsoon]

[urbanguy]

^Costco has a little more "Bling Bling" however. LOL

[monsoon]

[Brickell]

There's a BJ's in suburban Miami.

Not that I ever go there, but that would probably qualify as southern most.

The bigger chains are starting to build urban stores down here as well.

Publix is moving in big time to urban locations.

[Sean Reynolds]

Major chains tend to overlook cities in favor of rapidly growing suburbs. The chains are just now begining to discover that there is a market in some of the older cities.

I feel sorry for you though...you're getting a Walmart.

Eh, no where near my house.

But we held out a good while.

Not many cities can say that.

[G W North]

I just got a new Wal-Mart less than 1 mile from my house. I don't mind. If I don't want to go there (and I never go to Wal-Mart), I don't have to go. At least it's in a mall and not stand-alone.

While I was out driving a few hours ago, I noticed that there is yet ANOTHER Quiznos opening nearby (about 2 miles from my house). Pretty soon they're going to be as omnipresent as Subway and McDonald's

[Guest donaltopablo]

In Atlanta

Retail:

Kohls (discount standalone department store)

HHGregg (electronics/home appliance)

Resturant:

Moe's (trendy fast food mexican burritos)

Zaxby's (chicken fast food)

Bojangle's (chicken fast food)