Real Estate

Stage Stores is officially adding Gordmans stores to its portfolio.   Stage Stores closed on its previously announced acquisition of selected assets of Gordmans Stores, the Omaha, Nebraska-based department store chain that filed for Chapter 11 on March 13.   

Footaction opened the doors to its newest flagship store — its first outside of the United States.   The store, which is located in the Toronto Eaton Centre in Canada, features 6,500 square-feet of premium retail space. Presenting a unique layout, the new Footaction store is organized largely by brand, rather than by product category — a move that enhances the customer shopping experience.   

Fred’s plan to purchase at least 865 divested Rite Aid stores may be getting a step closer to becoming a reality.    More than one prominent investor has recently approached Fred’s Pharmacy with the intention of investing money in the operator of 601 locations in 16 states, according to the New York Post.  

President Trump’s real estate compadres at CBL and Horizon Group are no doubt hoping he holds off on building that wall.   The companies opened The Outlet Shoppes in the Texas border town of Laredo this week and report experiencing high traffic and sales volumes, in large part due to Mexica shoppers flocking to the site.  

Riverpoint Center, a 211,000-sq.-ft. grocery-anchored center in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, has been acquired by Federal Realty Investment Trust for $107 million.   Mid-America Rea Estate brokered the sales of the center, which is anchored by Jewel-Osco, Marshalls, and Old Navy. The name of the seller was not disclosed.   Riverpoint Center is located at the northwest corner of West Fullerton and North Clybourn Avenues in Lincoln Park, an affluent neighborhood on the lakefront north of downtown.

7-Eleven has accelerated its U.S. expansion by entering into the largest acquisition in its history.    The c-store retailer has agreed to buy the Sunoco chain of gas stations, which includes some 1,108 convenience stores located in 18 states, for a reported $3.3 billion.   

In a move to avoid filing Chapter 11, the fashion retailer is planning to shutter approximately 12% of its stores.   The closures will incur an impairment charge of approximately $2.0 million and will make a termination payment to the landlord of approximately $7.4 million, according to a filing the chain made on April 4, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.   

Payless ShoeSource filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid growing competition from off-price retailers and online.

The retailer, which has some  4,400 locations in more than 30 countries, plans to immediately close nearly 400 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico as it attempts to boost its balance sheet and restructure its debt load.

A mall-to-outlet center conversion underway in Rochester, New York, took a big step forward this week with the acquisition of a Macy’s building on the property.  

When Michael Murphy started his career as a mall marketing director with Ernest W. Hahn in California, the Beatles had just recently broken up and enclosed malls were the new wave in retail. Now, after four years as director of retail services at Cushman & Wakefield, Murphy has returned  to R. J. Brunelli  & Co.to take up his former position as senior sales associate.