Discount Store

For the third straight year, L.L.Bean has beat out Amazon in a customer service ranking.   The outdoor outfitter came out on top in Prosper Insights & Analytics’ annual review of service excellence among retailers, with Amazon a close second. Rounding out the top five; Lands’ End, Fingerhut, and Kohl’s.  

Chain Store Age announced the selection of the Advisory Board for SPECS/2018, the annual retail event produced by CSA and attended by retail and food-service executives who plan, design, build, and maintain stores and restaurants nationwide.     Now in its 54th year, SPECS will host its 2018 conference in Dallas, at the Gaylord Texan, March 18-20. The event will focus on what’s next, and what is shaping the future of physical retail.  

Kimco Realty has sold the Ambassador Plaza neighborhood center in Lafayette, Louisiana, to Westwood AC Properties for $5.3 million.   According to Transwestern VP Fred Victor, who brokered the deal for Kimco, the property benefits greatly from being shadow-anchored by an Albertson’s grocery store. Ambassador Plaza boasts a wide variety of dining options, including Subway, Little Caesars, and Fruiti Smoothie.  

The arrival of German discount grocer Lidl and Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods Markets have ratcheted up the already intense grocery wars and put new pressure on existing players, including Walmart. But one analyst thinks the discounter is well-positioned for the battle.  

Walmart is making good on its promise to open 200 learning centers by year’s end.   The discounter is planning to open another employee training academy. The new location, which will be in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is expected to open by end of 2017, according to the Argus Leader, a division of USA Today.  

Formed just three years ago, an aggressive acquirers of grocery-anchored centers has purchased its 34th property.   New Market Properties, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Preferred Apartment Communities, has acquired Irmo Station, a Kroger-anchored center in Columbia, South Carolina. The company targets high-yield suburban markets in Texas and the mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions and market-leading grocery anchors such as Publix, Kroger, and HEB.  

The willow is associated with weeping, and the appearance of WillowTree Plaza in Cookeville, Tennessee, is certainly sad by modern standards. But now the center near Tennessee Tech University has a new owner and, soon, will get a new look.   Boca Raton-based Fimiani Partners has purchased the 110,000-sq.-ft. center for $4.2 million and plans to invest in a new roof, a repaved parking lot, and a new paint job for Willow Tree.  

Macy's and Sears are by no means the only department store companies with valuable real estate.    Activist investor Snow Capital Partners has built a position in Dillard's Inc. and is planning to push for changes at the retailer, including unlocking the value of its real estate portfolio, Bloomberg reported.