Convenience Stores

Los Angeles -- Caruso Affiliated said it has begun construction on 8500 Burton Way, an upscale residential and ground-floor retail property featuring Trader Joe’s, located in a flourishing region of Los Angeles, adjacent to Beverly Hills.

The eight-story building combines contemporary architectural elements with rich materials, and is moving forward at a time when most other commercial development has stalled.

Miami Beach, Fla. -- Terranova Corp. announced that grocer Sabor Tropical Supermarket has joined Biscayne Plaza Shopping Center, in Miami Beach, Fla., as a new anchor tenant.

The 24,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open in 2012. According to Terranova, the retailer is replacing President Supermarket in the center and is required to renovate the interior of the store no later than January 2012. This will be Sabor Tropical’s fifth South Florida store.

Miami Beach, Fla. -- Terranova Corp. announced that healthy fast-food chain Energy Kitchen will open a new 2,500-sq.-ft. restaurant at Suniland Shopping Center, located in Miami Beach, Fla.

The new store will be Energy Kitchen’s first in south Florida. The New York City-based chain operates 10 stores in the New York City area, with, according to Energy Kitchen, approximately 55 stores in development in Florida, Washington D.C., Boston, White Plains, Long Island and Maryland.

Whittier, Calif. -- Watt Commercial Properties said that it has signed Dollar Super Store to a five-year lease for 5,762 sq. ft. of space at Santa Fe Springs Marketplace, an 144,261-sq.-ft. retail center located in Whittier, Calif.

Santa Fe Springs Marketplace is 97% leased to several tenants including Food 4 Less, Rite Aid, O’Reilly and Frazee Paint.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Thursday showed that consumer confidence fell last week to the lowest level in a month, negatively impacted by rising fuel prices.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index dropped to minus 44.5 in the week ended March 6, from the prior week’s minus 39.7, which was close to the highest in almost three years. Surging gas prices have left Americans concerned about personal finances.

London -- Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC said Thursday that it has acquired a 10% stake in U.S. online grocer FreshDirect, based in New York City.

According to Morrison, the U.K. fourth-largest supermarket chain, the acquisition marks its debut in the online food market.

Morrison has also announced plans to test a c-store format and to expand its grocery store counts in order to increase its presence in the U.K grocery market.

In the Feb. 24 edition of SiteTalk, we asked you about Borders'just-announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closures, and to what retailers you thought some of that prime real estate would go. Here is what two of our readers had to say:

"[I think they will go to] regional furniture chains [Value City] and regional electronics such as Hhgregg."
-- Joe Deckop
Columbus Consulting
Columbus, Ohio

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has announced the availability of 27 new exclusive California wines. The new wines, which the company said are sourced from some of the finest vineyards in California's premium wine growing regions, are broken into seven new lines and retail from $3.99 to $19.99.

AisleBuyer, the mobile self-checkout and commerce solutions provider, announced the hiring of three new VPs. Jeremy Laughlin is the name most likely familiar to those in the retail industry as he spent time with Best Buy and Staples and was most recently with NCR where he oversaw implementation of a $1.5 million pilot self checkout pilot program with a Fortune 100 retailer. 

New York — Walmart will next week start building its first smaller-format Express stores, according to building permits obtained by Bloomberg News.

The chain will begin construction March 16 on a 14,400-sq.-ft. store in Gentry, Ark., which is about 20 miles from the company’s Bentonville headquarters, according to the permits.