Discount Store

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. — Mid-America Asset Management Inc. has announced new retail leases in four shopping centers in Chicago’s northwest suburbs.

Big Blue Swim School signed a lease for 10,075 sq. ft. at The Grove in Buffalo Grove, Ill. The School’s second location in the Chicago area, it is expected to open in November. Jewel Osco, Chase and American Mattress anchor the 117,367-sq.-ft. center. Mid-America represented the landlord in the transaction. NGKF represented the tenant.

Los Angeles — Brixton Capital has acquired TownGate Center in Moreno Valley, Calif., for $41,971,000, a 6.9% cap rate, according to CBRE, which represented both the buyer and seller in the transaction. The seller was a partnership between Walton Street, a private equity firm, and Fritz Duda Co.

The CBRE marketing system distributed more than 460 offering memoranda to investors and brokers. The managed bid offer process generated more than nine offers. The purchase price mirrored CBRE’s pricing guidance to the seller.

Atlanta -- Severe winter weather hindered shopping activity in February, according to First Data Corp.'s SpendTrend report, which tracks same-store POS data by credit and debit cards, closed loop prepaid cards, EBT, and checks from the nearly four million retail locations serviced by First Data.

Consumer spending was also restrained by the termination of emergency unemployment insurance, a reduction in food stamp benefits and low-income growth, First Data said.

Purchase, N.Y. — Jersey Mike’s Subs has opened a new shop at Kohl’s Plaza in Holmdel, N.J. Kohl’s and Stein Mart anchor the 184,575-sq.-ft. shopping center owned and managed by National Realty & Development Corp.

The tenant line-up also includes 7-Eleven, Harmon Stores, Avenue, Wells Fargo and the Bayshore Academy of Dance.

York, Pa. -- Bon -Ton Stores said its CEO, Brendan Hoffman, will step down early next year. The announcement follows a disappointing fourth quarter for the company.

Hoffman, a former CEO of Lord & Taylor, will leave Bon-Ton on Feb. 7, 2015, when his contract expires. He also will step down as director. Hoffman cited "strictly personal reasons" for his decision to leave.

He was appointed CEO of Bon-Ton in February 2012.

Inclement weather has hurt some retailers’ quarterly sales results, but it has been no match for Dick’s Sporting Goods. The company’s fourth-quarter results exceeded the upper end of guidance range it provided in its third quarter press release.

ZAANDAM, the Netherlands — Ahold has entered into an agreement to acquire Spar's business in the Czech Republic. The acquisition includes 50 stores of which 36 are compact hypers and 14 are supermarkets.

Smaller format stores are all the rage these days. Dollar General, which already operates nearly 12,000 stores, plans to open 700 more units this year. Walmart recently announced plans to accelerate growth of its smaller format stores by opening between 270 and 300 small stores, more than double the 120 to 150 store range it projected last fall. Even Target has gotten in on the action with plans to open its first Target Express store near downtown Minneapolis this summer.