REAL ESTATE

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. -- Fameco Real Estate, L.P. announced that Visionworks, a division of Eye Care Centers of America, has signed four new leases in the Central Pennsylvania region as part of its store roll-out campaign.

Each of the new stores is slated to open in late summer 2011. The stores will be located at The Viewmont Mall in Dickson City, Silver Spring Shopping Center in West Harrisburg, Mill Creek Shopping Center in Lancaster and Delco Plaza in York.
 

San Francisco -- Gap announced Wednesday that it will open its first Gap store in Egypt this July, and its first Gap and Banana Republic stores in Morocco in October.

The move is part of the retailer’s global expansion strategy that calls for doubling its franchise stores to 400 by fiscal year 2014.

Gap started shipping to Egypt, Morocco and South Africa in 2010, but these stores are the first on the continent.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens is expanding its presence in Chicago, and adding 600 new jobs in the process. Under its new "Chicago Hometown Investment Initiative," the drugstore chain plan to expand its downtown office space, add new stores and remodel up to 142 existing units.

Tustin, Calif. -- Gold Max of California announced that is on track to open 100 Gold Max stores in Southern California within the next year.

With more than 150 stores, Gold Max operates the United States’ largest chain of stores specializing in buying gold and precious metals from consumers. Gold Max entered the Southern California market in the fall of 2010 and opened eight stores.

Edmonton, Alberta -- Cabela's will open its first store in Canada’s Alberta province on Aug. 4. It is the second Cabela's to open in Canada.

The 70,000-sq.-ft. store will be built in Cabela's trademark style that showcases the best of the outdoors in a spectacular retail environment. The building's exterior will reflect Cabela's traditional store model with log construction, stonework, wood siding and metal roofing.

New York City -- Best Buy plans to reduce its store size by subleasing store space to smaller retailers, according to The Los Angeles Times. The chain’s new stores will be in the 36,000-sq.-ft. range, down from its current 45,000-sq.-ft. model.

"We can reduce our overall square footage while actually increasing our presence," Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said at the company's annual shareholders meeting this week. "It's an opportunity to capture cost savings and get ourselves 'right size.'"

Canton, Mass. -- Dunkin' Donuts on Monday announced it has signed agreements with three franchisees to develop 12 new restaurants throughout Tampa over the next several years.

"The Sunshine State is a priority growth market for Dunkin' Donuts in 2011, and we're excited to expand our footprint in Tampa," said Grant Benson, CFE, VP franchising and market planning, Dunkin' Brands.

Minneapolis -- Target on Friday announced that Target Canada has reached an agreement to transfer to Walmart Canada the leasehold interests in up to 39 sites, currently operated by Zellers.

Specific locations will be identified later this fall. Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.