Supermarket/Grocery

Houston -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said it has leased space to two new restaurants in Houston at Fort Bend Center.

Baskin Robbins has leased 1,280 sq. ft., and The Fish Place has leased 1,380 sq. ft. of space. Both restaurants are slated to open in July.

The 97,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is anchored by Kroger alongside national retailers such as LA Fitness, Starbucks, Wendy’s, and Cato.
 

San Jose, Calif. -- Chicago-based General Growth Properties announced that Fresco World Market is slated to open at Eastridge Mall, located in Santa Clara County, Calif., by September.

Fresco will take over a former Circuit City building and will feature the largest produce and seafood departments in the county and the Bay area.

A GGP property, Eastridge Mall is anchored by J.C. Penney, Macy's, Sears, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sports Chalet and AMC Theatres.

Auburn, Calif. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said it has leased retail space in Auburn, Calif., at Auburn Village to Blue Moon Apparel.

Opening its third women’s apparel location, Blue Moon Apparel has leased 1,400 sq. ft. of space and will open in June.

The 134,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is anchored by Bel Air grocery store alongside national retailers such as CVS/pharmacy, Dollar Tree and Subway.
 

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets said Tuesday it is closing all 40 of its Little Clinics – in-store mini-clinics offering minor medical treatments – after five years in operation.

According to an item in the St. Petersburg Times, 10 of the 12 locations in the Tampa Bay area have closed, and the remainder will be closed on yet-to-be-determined dates.

Belfast, Ireland -- A report in the Belfast Telegraph Tuesday said that Wal-Mart-owned supermarket chain Asda has released plans to open its first George stores overseas as it looks to turn the fashion label into a global retail brand.

The chain has set up a team at George's Lutterworth, Leicestershire base to explore entering into franchise arrangements for the first time. According to the report, George expects to announce its first partner in the Middle East in the next few months, followed by store openings in the first half of 2012.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Winn-Dixie Stores said Monday that profit for the quarter ended April 6 rose to $23.5 million, compared with $20.9 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue declined to $1.62 billion, and same-store sales slipped a half-percent.
 

LONDON — Wal-Mart Stores' Asda division Asda confirmed that it was exploring opportunities to franchise its George at Asda range in markets overseas.

The company expects to announce its first overseas franchising partner in the next few months with the intention of establishing a small number of pilot stores in the Middle East in the first half of 2012.

George currently accounts for around half of Asda’s general merchandise sales and is already a growing global brand through Walmart stores in seven countries worldwide, the company reported.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores may give up its quest to buy a controlling stake in South Africa’s Massmart Holdings Ltd., if South Africa forces local procurement conditions on the retailers, the companies said, the Associated Press reported.

Santiago Roces left Walmart with little fanfare or the issuance of a press release last month, which isn’t uncommon for executives at the SVP level at the company the size of Walmart. Nevertheless, the timing of the departure certainly seems curious given that Roces was the guy with the words “small format” in his title and Walmart is about to open the first of its Walmart Express stores and rebrand Neighborhood Market as Walmart Market.

One of the more interesting developments in the retail industry is set to unfold in a series of small towns along the Western edge of Arkansas where Walmart is set open the first of its experimental small formats.