Convenience Stores

Cincinnati -- Retail loyalty programs have seen some impressive growth since 2011, according to results of the latest Colloquy Loyalty Census. In 2013, department stores achieved 70% growth in loyalty program memberships since the 2011 Colloquy Census, far surpassing the 26.7% rate of growth in loyalty programs across all sectors tabulated in the 2013 census. The number of department store loyalty memberships is 193.9 million.

Virginia Beach, Va. -- Divaris Real Estate has leased three retail spaces at shopping centers in Hampton and Virginia Beach.

Bank of America renewed its 6,000–sq.-ft. lease in Willow Oaks Village Square in Hampton.

Bruegger’s Bagels leased 2,400 sq. ft. in Southgate Commons in Virginia Beach. Also in Southgate Commons, Anthony Vince Nail Spa has taken 2,597 sq. ft.

A member of Realty Resources and the Virginia affiliate for The CORE Network, DRE represented the landlords in these transactions.

Calabasas, Calif. -- Broader regional economic growth and improved consumer and retailer finances bode well for retail real estate investments in well-located properties, according to “The Retail Outlook” from Marcus & Millichap Research Services’ second quarter 2013 mid-year outlook for the national retail market and U.S. economy.

Walnut Creek, Calif. – A new study from RSR Research concludes that retailers offering multiple selling channels connect more with consumers and are more profitable than retailers operating a single channel. Virtually every cross-channel selling tactic is being employed by retailers more this year than in 2012, with particularly strong growth in mobile.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in May 2012 vs. May 2013 and noticed some common overall trends across top retail chains. While looking at the data in May 2012 compared to May 2013, we see interesting changes that came from Toys "R" Us. Their circular suggests a switch in advertising strategy. Their ad blocks per page decreased 10% while ad blocks per circular increased 79.1%. Also, the total number of circular pages increased by 44.4%.

Fairfield, Calif. -- A Fuddruckers franchisee has acquired a 14,500-sq.-ft. property on the ring road of Solano Mall in Fairfield, Calif., according to Transwestern, the brokerage that represented the franchisee.

A Chick-fil-A restaurant attached to the property will continue to operate without change.

New York -- Winick Realty Group has signed Adam Kruvant and Gary Krauss as brokers in its Cranford, N.J., branch.

Krauss comes to Winick with a background in retail supermarket operations and food and drugstore marketing. Kruvant came up through Winick’s Agent Training Program. He previously worked for Vanguard Realty.

For anyone involved in retail, it feels like the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Spring Convention in Las Vegas signifies an important yearly milestone. Those of us in the industry can be forgiven for visualizing a “retail year” that begins immediately after the convention in May and runs until RECon opens its doors the following year.