News Briefs

Georgia’s second-largest mall will be replacing its standard food hall to make it a gathering place as well as a convenient eatery.

The redesigned concept called Perimeter Eats will be relocated away from the busy corridor that was the home of the food hall to eliminate a long-standing congestion point at the 1.5 million-sq.-ft. center.

“Dining is a big part of why people come to Perimeter Mall, and evolving the traditional, tired food court will create a better overall experience, which is always a top priority for us,” said Adam Tritt, GGP’s executive VP of development.

GGP plans to repurpose the square footage of the existing food court space to create room for a new, elevated retail mix. 

“With many new leases underway, the Perimeter Eats project is really opening the door for what is to come next at Perimeter Mall,” said Josh Deckelbaum, GGP’s executive VP of leasing. “We continue to see strong demand for brands like Zara, Lego and Pop Mart, and we look forward to Aritzia and Alo opening this year.”

Perimeter Eats is expected to open in early 2027 at Perimeter Center, which is located in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody near the interchange of Interstate 285 and Georgia State Route 400. 

Lima Center, a 174,000-sq.-ft. property in Lima, Ohio, that is anchored by Kohl’s and TJ Maxx, has been acquired by an unnamed buyer.

The sale was announced by Eastern Union, a commercial real estate brokerage that arranged $13 million in financing for the $19.5 million acquisition. 

Located off Interstate 75 in the western quadrant of the state, Lima Center’s big draws are the 86,000-sq.-ft. Kohl’s and the 30,000-sq.-ft. TJ Maxx. 

“This top-tier retail asset meets every benchmark for quality and stability,” said Jack Beida, Eastern Union’s managing director. “Lima Center has 100-percent occupancy and is 98-percent leased.”

Other key tenants include Five Below and Dollar Tree.

Lima, a town of 35,000 residents, is the county seat of Ohio’s Allen County.

Levin Management Corporation (LMC) has added a new retail property to its management portfolio.

The New Jersey-based firm has been awarded the management and leasing assignment for Tysen Park Shopping Center, a 154,000-sq.-ft. retail property in New York City, located along Staten Island’s heavily traveled Hylan Boulevard corridor. Anchored by Stop & Shop and HomeGoods, the center is currently 97% occupied, with national tenants that include Wendy’s, Dunkin’, Paris Baguette, Club Pilates, CITYMD, Santander Bank and Northfield Bank.

"This assignment represents an exciting opportunity to bring our integrated platform to a well-positioned Staten Island asset,” said Joseph Lowry, senior VP of acquisitions and business development for LMC. “Tysen Park Shopping Center has strong fundamentals, an established market presence and a tenant mix well-aligned with today's retail demand.”

[READ MORE: Centennial tapped to take over management of Connecticut’s SoNo mall]

Tysen Park attracts approximately 2.9 million visits annually according to Placer.ai, and serves a dense, affluent trade area with more than 166,000 residents and average household incomes exceeding $140,000 within a three-mile radius. Tysen Park is the third retail property assignment LMC has secured this year.

"LMC's integrated approach to property management, leasing and asset positioning continues to resonate with property owners seeking experienced operating partners," said Matthew K. Harding, CEO of LMC. "Assignments like this reflect the confidence owners place in our team and our ability to create long-term value for retail assets."

LMC’s portfolio includes approximately 125 properties totaling 16 million square feet across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Its assets primarily include grocery-anchored open-air retail centers.

A family-owned grocery operator with locations in several Midwest states is capturing real-time, shelf-level data.

B&R Stores, which operates several supermarket banners in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri, is deploying the Simbe store intelligence platform and Tally autonomous shelf-scanning robot at select locations in Lincoln, Neb. The retailer manages thousands of SKUs across fresh, center store and specialty categories in a high-traffic, fast-moving environment.

Seeking to maintain shelf consistency to help shoppers find items at the accurate price, B&R Stores is scanning and recording real-time, shelf-level data on product availability, pricing, and placement via Tally robots. 

According to the retailer, store associates will typically spend up to 30 hours per week on manual inventory tasks which are time-consuming, error-prone and consistently cited as a top driver of attrition. Tally automates those tasks, freeing associates to focus on higher-level replenishment, store execution and customer service workflows.

"We are committed to delivering the highest quality shopping experience, and Tally is a powerful tool that helps our associates do that more effectively every day," said Marty Jarvis, director of marketing at B&R Stores. "This technology eliminates repetitive manual audits so our teams can spend more time serving customers, keeping shelves stocked, and ensuring products are accurately priced."

Other grocery retailers that have deployed Tally to their stores include Wakefern Food Corp., SpartanNash, Thiesen’s and Harmons.

[READ MORE: Study: In-store robots can drive return visits by improving shelf execution]

"Bringing real-time shelf intelligence into daily operations gives associates better tools to maintain the high standards B&R's shoppers expect," said Negar Ballard, senior director at Simbe.

B&R Stores Inc. is a family-owned company founded in 1964 operating several supermarket banners including Russ's Market, Super Saver, Apple Market, Allen's, Cash Saver, C&R Markets, Mason's and Joe's Market across Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.

The prime shopping destination in Connecticut’s upscale Fairfield County has a new third-party manager.

Dallas-based Centennial, an owner and third-party operator of destination malls nationwide, has announced that it will be taking over day-to-day operations of The SoNo Collection, an up-market, 700,000-sq.-ft. mall that opened in South Norwalk in 2019.

Centennial will assume responsibility for property management, marketing, and accounting of the center that resides within the portfolio of Brookfield Properties’ GGP unit.

“We are proud to have been selected and entrusted to lead The SoNo Collection into its next chapter,” said Centennial’s president Paul Kurzawa. “This is a truly exceptional asset that has redefined the retail experience in Connecticut. Our focus will be on building upon the center’s strong foundation, driving sustained traffic growth, and deepening its role as a community anchor.”

The SoNo Collection is New England’s newest large-scale retail destination, anchored by Nordstom, Apple, Bloomingdales, Zara, H&M, and Arhaus.

The mall will remain open and fully operational throughout the management transition.

Centennial owns and/or operates more than 30 super-regional malls across the country. Among them Arden Fair in Sacramento; MainPlace in Santa Ana, Calif.; The Shops at North Bridge in Chicago and Galleria Fort Lauderdale.

Amazon is letting consumers custom design merchandise with the help of AI. 

 The online giant is introducing a new feature of its “Alexa for Shopping” solution, which combines the personalization capabilities of the next-gen Alexa+ voice model with generative AI shopping functionality, to provide AI-based product design to consumers. Designs can be put on T-shirts, hoodies, tumblers, and other products available through Amazon’s Merch on Demand print-on-demand service, which is also used by organizations such as global mixed martial arts organization UFC to create print-on-demand products.

From there, Amazon handles production and delivery with Prime-eligible shipping.

[Read more: Online giant granted patent to create on-demand clothing]

The feature is designed to guide customers through the process with tips along the way even if they don't know anything about graphic design. Designing merchandise with Alexa for Shopping is free. Customers only pay for the products they order. The feature is now available to all U.S. customers. Amazon plans to add more product options over time.