Development/Redevelopment

Toronto -- Canada’s second-biggest supermarket operator has acquired Safeway’s Canadian portfolio of stores in a $5.7 billion deal that pulls the Pleasanton, Calif., chain completely out of the country.

Sobeys, a unit of Empire Co. Lt., has acquired 213 grocery stores, 62 fuel stations, 10 liquor stores, 12 manufacturing facilities and four DCs, leaving Safeway with 1,400 stores in the U.S. after the deal.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Red Legacy, a commercial real estate developer for shopping centers, has hired Stacy Scheelk as its new senior director of new business development.

Scheelk is a shopping industry expert with a background in local, regional and national business development and marketing. She will be charged elevating and maximizing the potential of each development by fomenting partnerships, securing sponsorships, creating specialty retail and increasing ancillary income.

Montreal -- Canadian jewelery retailer Birks will introduce a new retail concept in the summer of 2013, with new stores opening in DIX30 Complex, Brossard, Quebec, and in the new Mapleview Mall in Burlington, Ontario.

The new format, developed in collaboration with Sid Lee Architecture, will feature round 1,500 sq. ft. of retail space and be dedicated to jewelry from the Birks Collection.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer will open two 190,000-sq.-ft. supercenters in the northern Indiana towns of Portage and Warsaw on June 13. Meijer operates more than 200 stores in the Midwest and will have 32 stores in Indiana. Meijer expects the stores to create more than 500 new jobs.

Green Bay, Wis. – Shopko intends to open five  stores under its Shopko Hometown banner in Afton, Wyo., St. Peter, Minn., and Winneconne, Ellsworth and Tomahawk, Wis., in late fall of this year.

The Shopko Hometown format is designed to serve smaller rural communities with the same product assortments available in larger areas and Shopko currently operates more than 180 stores in this format.

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Target announced that its first 24 store locations in Ontario (Canada) have been awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification. As previously announced, the discounter is seeking LEED certification for all 124 stores scheduled to open in Canada this year.

Chicago -- The Opus Group has begun construction of a 31,175-sq.-ft. center in Glen Ellyn, Ill., near Chicago. A 20,300-sq.-ft. The Fresh Market will anchor the project.

The site, a vacated car dealership, will include patio seating and 186 parking spaces.

The center is 75% leased. In-line tenants include Great Clips and the first Tide Dry Cleaners in the Chicago area.

Serving the Glen Ellyn and North Wheaton communities, the center is slated to open in late 2013.

New York -- Fixtures Living, which specializes in high-end kitchen, bath, outdoor and lifestyle appliances, will open its first East Coast location at Lenox Marketplace in Atlanta. Additional stores are scheduled to open in Glendale, Calif., Chicago and Dallas

The emerging retailer, whose stores average 27,000 sq. ft., currently has three locations in California, in Costa Mesa, Rancho Mirage and San Diego.  

Willow Grove, Pa. -- Blo/Out Blow Dry Bar will open its third salon in Willow Grove Park this summer. The new, no-appointment-necessary, no-cut, no-color blow dry bar brand from Philadelphia has signed up for 1,300 sq. ft.

Blo/Out Blow Dry Bar stylists wash and dry hair and blow it straight, wavy, curly or up. Customers choose from eight styles. Additional services include scalp massages, makeup, custom styling and a new 20-minute dry styling treatment.