Real Estate

SALISBURY, N.C. — Delhaize America announced that it is expanding its Food Lion distribution center in Dunn, N.C.

The company said the distribution center, which opened in 1987 and services 264 Food Lion stores in the area, will increase storage space by 54,000 sq. ft. to accomodate more than 4,000 refrigerated and frozen foods.

New York City -- Whole Foods Market plans to open a store in Virginia Beach, Va.

The retailer recently signed a lease with S.J. Collins Enterprises for the construction of a 40,000-sq.-ft. store in the Hilltop section of Virginia Beach. It is scheduled to open by yearend 2013.

ROME — Gap Inc. announced that it will open its first Gap flagship store in Rome on Via del Corso, the city’s premier shopping district. The company said it expects to open the store on July 30.

Rome -- Gap said Friday that it will debut its first Gap flagship store in Rome on Via del Corso, the city’s premier shopping district, on July 30.

The opening in Rome is part of Gap’s ongoing international growth strategy; it opened its first Gap and Banana Republic stores in Milan in November 2010.

Four additional Gap and Banana Republic stores are slated to open in Italy this year. The company also recently introduced its outlet concept to the country and said it expects to open additional stores in Italian outlet centers.

London -- A Friday report by the United Kingdom’s The Independent newspaper said that San Francisco-based Williams-Sonoma is planning a U.K. launch in 2012.

The report said that the company has appointed a U.K. retail property agent and plans to open its first store in the first half of next year.

Plans call for a London debut and the report said the retailer is seeking 5,000-sq.-ft. to 8,000-sq.-ft. spaces.
 

Los Angeles -- Westfield Group shopping center owner said in a statement that it has agreed in principle to joint-venture with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey the new retail precinct at the site of the New York World Trade Center.

Westfield, upon completion of the deal, would manage and lease out the retail space expected to open in early 2015.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties and Horizon Group Properties announced Friday that they will open The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City on Aug. 5, fully leased with 83 stores.

Half the stores are new to Oklahoma City.

The center is scheduled to open to the public with such designer outlets as Nike, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Polo Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Guess, Chico’s, Coach, Banana Republic, DKNY, J. Crew, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Under Armour, Levi’s and Carters.

Seattle -- Starbucks Corp. reported Thursday that it scored record results in the quarter ended July 3, prompting the retailer to accelerate its 2012 new store opening targets to 800 net new stores globally.

Starbucks grew profits 34% in the third quarter, to $279 million from $208 million in the year-ago period. Sales rose 12% to $2.9 billion from $2.6 billion, topping Wall Street estimates.

Same-store sales globally surged 8%, buoyed by a 6% increase in traffic and a 2% increase in average ticket.

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Grocery retailer Meijer announced it will open a 14th Chicago-area store, this one under its Meijer Marketplace banner designed to bring a smaller-size localized concept to the Melrose Park neighborhood.

Meijer Marketplace spans 96,000 sq. ft. – about half the size of the grocer’s supercenters – and features a tailored offering as well as a variety of general merchandise items.

New York City -- Women’s apparel retailer Cache reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended July 2 rose to $2.8 million, compared with $897,000 in the year-ago period.

Net sales increased 6.5% to $60.3 million and same-store sales increased 6%.

For fiscal 2011, the retailer said it has no new store openings planned, but will close two stores.