Temporary Tenants Make a Permanent Impact
By: Mike Jordan and Mallory DeLucas
At the heart of every bustling open-air shopping center lies a delicate balance. Landlords want steady tenants, predictable rents, and a sense of permanence. But sometimes, what really brings that center to life isn’t a long-term anchor store — it’s the flicker of something seasonal, fresh, temporary.
Source: Retail Dive, Chain Store Age, Progressive Grocer
According to a recent ranking by the firm Dunnhumby, the best loved quick service restaurants in the U.S. aren’t restaurants at all, but convenience stores. Coming in at number 1 is Texas-based Buc-ee’s, followed by Midwestern gas station chain Kwik Trip at number 2. In-n-Out, Raising Cane’s, and Chick-fil-a round out the top five.
Carter’s announced plans to lay off about 300 corporate employees while also closing 150 stores, 50 more than previously announced. While sales have been largely flat, profits tumbled 80% in the most recent quarter as a result of tariff related impacts.
Foot Locker has canceled plans to relocate its headquarters to St. Petersburg, Florida which it had announced in 2024. In the intervening months, the company was acquired by Dick’s Sporting Goods who decided upon evaluation to cancel the planned move. Foot Locker will remain based in New York City for the time being.
Harris-Teeter, the Charlotte-based division of Kroger is opening new stores in three states in the coming years. The new locations will be in Jacksonville, Florida; Clemson, Lake Wylie, and Fort Mill, South Carolina; and Kannapolis, North Carolina. Harris Teeter currently has over 250 stores along the southeast coast between Washington, DC and northern Florida.
Kroger has decided to close three of its automated fulfillment centers that were opened in partnership with UK-based robotics firm Ocado. The facilities in Maryland, Wisconsin, and Florida will close in January as the company deepens its relationship with third party delivery services like Doordash and Instacart. The Ocado partnership began in 2018 and was hailed as a major step forward for online grocery shopping. While online grocery sales have gone from 6% of the market in 2019 to 13% today, the vast majority of those sales are still being fulfilled from local brick & mortar stores which have the advantage of being located closer to consumers.
The long awaited debut of Netflix’s new retail and entertainment concept Netflix House is finally here. The streaming service opened the 100,000 square foot store in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania earlier this fall. Inside the venue, fans can take part in experiences and buy merchandise from some of Netflix’s most popular franchises including Stranger Things, Squid Game, Wednesday, KPop Demon Hunters, and more. Netflix House also includes a diner serving comfort foods and a 229 seat theater that will offer access to fan events and live sports. New locations in Dallas and Las Vegas are set to open in the coming months.
Panera Bread has outlined a turnaround strategy it hopes will reverse a sales decline that started in 2023, when the brand peaked with $6.5 billion in revenue. The downfall caused the brand to cancel a planned IPO. The plan involves menu innovation, better quality ingredients, more in-person staff, new smaller locations, and an ad campaign featuring actors from “Gilmore Girls.”
While most off-price brands are growing at a rapid pace, Saks Off 5th banner is set to close 9 stores in January. Industry insiders note that Saks recent struggles in paying vendors and maintaining inventory have been a boon to Nordstrom, which has been able to strengthen its relationship with luxury apparel vendors as it continues to grow the Rack concept at a rapid pace.
Shoe Carnival is folding its tent, but not to worry, their stores aren’t going anywhere. The company announced that it was changing its corporate name to Shoe Station, a premium shoe banner that has outperformed its legacy Shoe Carnival brand in recent quarters. The company expects that 90% of its current Shoe Carnival stores will be rebranded as Shoe Station by 2028, with the remaining stores still being evaluated.
Sweetgreen has opened its first drive-thru location in Costa Mesa, California. However, this is not any ordinary drive-thru, as it will integrate a tech-forward concept known as “Infinite Kitchen Sweetlane” which automates much of the salad making process. The company began testing the concept in 2022 with the aim of offering a seamless pickup experience for online orders.
Tractor Supply Co is on pace to open 90 new stores this year, with even more growth planned for 2026. The rural lifestyle brand plans 100 new stores next year, it’s most ambitious expansion program yet.
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is stepping down in early 2026 after 12 years at the helm of the world’s largest retailer. He will be replaced by John Furner, who is currently the CEO of Walmart’s U.S. operations. Under McMillon’s tenure, the company has grown revenue by $200 billion, while seeing its stock price surge 300%.
Wayfair has announced plans to expand its physical store program even further. In addition to the stores already open in Illinois and Georgia, the online furniture retailer recently announced plans for stores in Yonkers, New York; Denver, Colorado; and Columbus, Ohio. The Columbus store is set to open later in 2026 and will be 70,000 square feet roughly half the footprint of its other stores.
The Big View
The Walmart of today looks and feels much different than the company that Doug McMillon took over in 2014. Back then, the company faced routine criticism for its hardball pricing tactics, low worker pay, and its role in hollowing out traditional Main Street businesses. However, as McMillon steps down, the company’s reputation has greatly improved in large part thanks to McMillon’s willingness to address some of these issues, while the rise of Amazon has helped the company focus on its key strengths. Bloomberg’s Beth Kowitt takes a deeper look at how Walmart rehabbed its reputation over the last decade. Read More >>
As grocery prices climb, discount grocers should be in the driver’s seat when it comes to market share. That seems to hold true for Aldi, but most other major players within the discount space are struggling to find traction. Grocery Dive’s Jeff Wells takes a deeper look at what is holding these companies back. Read More >>
Video of the Month: Fast casual restaurants have changed the way Americans dine out in the 21st Restaurants like Chipotle, Cava, and Sweetgreen offered the quality of a sit down restaurant, with the convenience and value of fast food. However, as inflation has forced menu prices to skyrocket, this segment of the industry is g=facing its first existential crisis. Learn more about the “slop bowl recession” in this video. Watch Here >>
By the Numbers
Retail Sales Performance, Space Per Capita, and Average NNN Rent Index
2006 – 100. Source: CoStar, St. Louis FRED, Newmark Research 2Q 2025
From the Research Desk
What does it take to stand out in today’s world? Increasingly, whether its online or in the real world, we are given a lot of pale imitations and little authenticity. As AI creeps into our lives, the key differentiator is likely to be a human touch. Retail brands thrive when they can offer the market something unique; whether that is the way Bass Pro Shops understands what outdoor recreation enthusiasts value most to Costco’s no frills warehouse club experience. When you step into one of these stores, there’s no mistaking that you’re anywhere else.
Two retailers made news this month that show each heading in completely opposite directions. Nordstrom, whose founding family recently took the company private, used its time on stage at the Customer Service Experience conference this month to highlight the many ways it emphasizes the human element in its interactions with customers. This commitment extends even to its customer service phone line, which does not utilize frustrating interactive voice menus that add friction to the customer experience. The bet is that when a retailer treats its customers poorly at any stage of the shopping cycle, it loses loyalty and future sales that don’t make up for the cost savings of having robots answer the phones.
Meanwhile, Amazon announced that it was expanding non-organic and mass market grocery brands within Whole Foods. When the company acquired Whole Foods for $14 billion in 2017, the thought was that Whole Foods would lend in house expertise and know how in Amazon’s own pursuit of the grocery market. However, Whole Foods customer base shop there because of the ways their business model and merchandising is set apart from traditional grocery stores. Amazon’s Fresh concept of physical grocery stores seems to have stalled out. The company abandoned the entire idea in the U.K. and has been quietly turning over store locations that never opened to new tenants, while many other locations sit vacant years after their custom build outs were complete. Now they are trying to let Fresh encroach on Whole Foods brand reputation. The risk is that Whole Foods will become like one of those cable networks that lost the plot decades ago: MTV without the music, The Learning Channel without the learning, and A&E minus the arts.
As we move ever deeper into the AI era, it will be humanity that drives engagement and loyalty, whether you’re a content creator or a retailer.
Song of the Month: New Zealand’s place in the pop/rock landscape is often overlooked but the small island country has had an outsized influence over the years. From the Finn brothers, who led bands like Split Enz and Crowded House to international success, to the 80s groups that populated the roster of Flying Nun Records such as The Chills, The Bats, and The Clean – all major influences on 90s American indie rock and beyond; the South Pacific has staked a claim for songs featuring plaintive vocals atop a driving Velvet Underground-inspired backbeat and strummed guitars. Fazerdaze, the one woman project of Amelia Murray, continues this tradition for the new century on her most recent album Soft Power , which takes the NZ sound and adds layers of synths and shoegaze guitars on songs like “Cherry Pie” which earned her a best album award at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards (the NZ Grammys) Watch the video here >>
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