Supermarket/Grocery

Houston -- Thor Equities announced Lowe’s Companies will build a 100,000-sq.-ft. home improvement store at The Shoppes at Cinco Ranch located in Katy, Texas. The company is in the process of developing the 35-acre property, which will include retail stores and restaurant spaces. The property is anchored by Walgreens, with Kroger and Academy Sports + Outdoors located across the street.

Cincinnati -- Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT II and TPG Real Estate announced the formation of a partnership to acquire high-quality, value-added grocery-anchored shopping centers throughout the United States. The Partnership will invest up to $250 million of equity and plans to leverage this capital to achieve a $750 million acquisition target.

Tacoma, Wash. -- Vestar announced that it has acquired James Center located in Tacoma, Washington, for $31.4 million.

The 140,240 sq. ft. center is located directly across from Tacoma Community College, which enrolls nearly 14,000 students per year. James Center is anchored by Fred Meyer and Rite, as well as feature tenants: Starbucks, Subway, Verizon, Menchie’s, U.S. Bank, IHOP, FedEx Kinko’s and Ivar’s.

The latest retail security breach may have exposed personal information of workers, rather than customers. According to The Denver Channel, a payroll employee of Phoenix-based, 220-plus-store Sprouts Farmers Markets provided W-2 tax form information from an unspecified number of the retailer’s personnel in response to a request in a fraudulent “phishing” email claiming to be from a company executive. The FBI and IRS are investigating the breach with cooperation from Sprouts.

Starbucks knows a thing or two about developing business across channels, and on-demand, app-based grocery delivery service Shipt is bringing that expertise in-house.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Shipt has named Joe Manning, former Starbucks director of business and channel development, to lead business development. Shipt is looking to Manning to establish and grow partnerships with grocers and CPG companies as the company expands.

Market expansion into the Minneapolis market may be the next step for Meijer, The Grand Rapids Press reported last week, confirming that the grocer acquired 30 acres of land in a Twin City suburb. "I can confirm Meijer has purchased property in Brooklyn Park, Minn.," Frank Guglielmi, Meijer senior director communications, told The Grand Rapids Press.