Convenience Stores

A 65,798-sq.-ft. neighborhood center in the Houston suburb of Greenspoint has been purchased for $15 million, or about $228 per square foot, according to the Chron website. Deal broker CBRE said that’s one of the highest prices paid for retail space in the area on a square-foot basis.  

In 2013, Newport Capital Partners paid just over $31 million for Danada Square East, a 200,000-sq.-ft. center in Wheaton, Illinois, anchored by a Dominick’s supermarket. Yesterday, Newport sold the property for $63 million.  

Walgreens, Rite Aid extend date of merger agreement to allow for store divestures   Walgreens Boots Alliance and Rite Aid announced that they have mutually agreed to extend the end date of their merger agreement from Oct. 27, 2016 to Jan. 27, 2017.   The companies now expect the transaction will close in early calendar 2017.  

The use of cash remains strong among in-store shoppers.   That’s according to a new survey by Cardtronics, in which 89% of consumers report using cash in the past six months to pay for merchandise in a physical store.    Cash was followed by debit cards, used by 74% of consumers in the last six months, and credit cards, used by 66% of consumers. Eighteen percent of consumers reported using store mobile apps to pay for something in the last six months, and 17% used a mobile wallet. 

Gift cards certainly have not lost their luster among holiday gift givers and recipients — or Albertsons.   Well aware that three in four consumers (73%) planned to give at least one gift card last holiday season, according to the Retail Gift Card Association (RGCA) reported, the grocery chain is ready to attract these shoppers again this year. In effort to grab these customers’ wallet share, Albertsons will add the Five Back Visa gift card to its gift card portfolio.  

Sheetz just added a new item to its assortment — an app-based delivery service.    Through a partnership with OrderUp from Groupon, an on-demand restaurant food-delivery service, Sheetz now features a mobile ordering program for food and beverages. The service, which is available in its Morgantown, W.V., and State College, Pennsylvania, locations, allows shoppers to place orders and have them delivered to their doorstep.  

In line with driving the company’s digital services, Wakefern is turning its attention to mobile payments.   Specifically, it will enable customers to use Chase Pay when paying for groceries at its ShopRite and The Fresh Grocer stores. The mobile wallet allows customers to input Chase Visa consumer credit and debit cards into the app, then use the solution to digitally make purchases, and earn rewards. Token technology keeps payments more secures.  

Organized retail crime does not discriminate.      In a unanimous finding, a full 100% of retailers reported that their companies had experienced ORC in the past year, up from 97% in 2015, according to the 12th annual ORC study released by the National Retail Federation. It is the first time in the survey’s history that all responding companies reported being a victim.