Development/Redevelopment

John Bucksbaum discusses post-recession realities

Bucksbaum Retail Properties opened for business in April 2012. The Chicago-based company has already opened one project and is working on four more.

The 53,000-sq.-ft. Kingsbury Center near North Chicago has opened with four tenants: Buy Buy Baby, PetSmart, Road Runner Sports and Jimmy Johns. It is a joint venture with Chicago-based Structured Development.

Invest in the right experience for a shopping center's customers, and you will earn a return on experience. That is the business model driving Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Co., which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

"Do customers love being at the center? Do they come back and drive sales? That is return on experience," said Terry Montesi, Trademark chairman, CEO and founder. Experience is indispensable today when most goods and services are available online, often at a lower price.

Go offline, young man: That appears to be the mantra of e-commerce merchants these days.

As competition in the world of online retailing heats up — with Amazon's ever-burgeoning dominance posing the biggest threat — more pure-players are taking the brick-and-mortar plunge. It's a reminder, many experts say, of the strong appeal of the in-store experience — even when stacked up against the convenience of online shopping.

Jim von Maur

President, Von Maur

HEADQUARTERS Davenport, Iowa

TYPE OF BUSINESS Department store retailer

NUMBER OF STORES 35 in 11 states (27 Von Maur stores, eight Dry Goods stores)

Seventeen years ago, in the January 1996 issue of Chain Store Age, Jack Arth, who at the time was president of Von Maur, explained how the circa 1928 department store retailer set out to differentiate itself from competitors such as the then hugely influential Federated and May chains.

Middleburg Heights, Ohio -- Brixmor Property Group announced that a 14,151-sq.-ft. Tuesday Morning recently opened at Southland Shopping Center, located in Middleburg Heights, Ohio.

Brixmor, based in New York City, is the owner of Southland Shopping Center.

San Jose, Calif. -- Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp. reported Monday a loss of $33.6 million for the quarter ended Feb. 2, widened from a loss of $7.3 million in the year-ago period.

Sales for the quarter rose to $153 million from $141.6 million, and same-store sales edged up 1.6%.

For the full year,  the company lost $118.4 million, compared with a loss of $14.5 million in the prior year. Sales dipped to $657.3 million, compared to $660.5 million for fiscal 2011.

New York -- Modell’s Sporting Goods will celebrate the grand opening of its store in Arlington, Va., on May 9.
   
The store is located in Pentagon Centre. With its opening, Modell’s will have a total of 154 storefronts.
 
“We are thrilled to have our 18th store in the Virginia-Maryland area,” said Modell’s president and CEO Mitchell Modell. “We look forward to becoming a stronghold in our new community and getting them everything they need for the summer.”
 

Huntsville, Ala. -- Brentwood, Tenn.-based GBT Realty has completed construction on Huntsville, Ala.’s first Academy Sports + Outdoors. The 72,000-sq.-ft. store, which opened on April 26, is the third Academy Sports development for GBT. Reed Construction served as site contractor and Stewart Perry Construction as general contractor on the project.

GBT completed construction in fall 2012 for stores in Mobile, Ala., and Smyrna, Tenn.