REAL ESTATE

Cleveland - L.L. Bean and The Capital Grille have executed leases at the 610,000-sq.-ft, mixed-use Legacy Village town center. The 16,000-sq.-ft. L.L. Bean store will feature an assortment of active and casual apparel and footwear, outdoor gear including hiking, fly-fishing, kayaking and camping products.

L.L. Bean will open in the space currently occupied by Talbots, which will be relocating to a new space within the shopping center. This will be L.L. Bean’s 23rd retail store outside of Maine.

Salt Lake City -- Sundance Catalog is gearing up for retail expansion, with plans to open two locations in 2015: one in Edina Galleria in Edina, Minnesota, in September, and a second store in Dallas’ NorthPark Center in November. Up to five additional stores are planned for 2016.

New York -- Hibbett Sports’ expansion plan hit an important milestone in Sealey, Texas this month, with the opening of its 1,000th store location.

Marion, Ill. -- Outdoor gear and apparel retailer Gander Mountain is set to open its new location, in Marion, Illinois, on May 7.

The new 52,000-sq.-ft. store is the company’s eighth in Illinois. The exterior and interior layout reflect Gander Mountain's new store design featuring innovative interior elements, displays and fixtures.

New York -- Discount supermarket company WinCo Foods LLC will open its 100th store on May 7, in Lewisville, Texas. The 83,000-sq.-ft. location is the fifth WinCo store to open in the Lone Star State.

The new store features WinCo's signature "Wall of Values" at the entry, which displays a wide variety of high-volume, value-priced products.

WinCo currently operates some 100 stores in the states of Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon, Arizona, Utah and Texas.
 

Mississauga, Canada – Target Corp.’s exit from Canada is reportedly not turning out as smoothly as the retailer had hoped. According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, Target is returning 55 leases it could not find a bidder for to their landlords.

Target is also returning 19 leases for office and warehouse space in Canada. The company operated a total of 133 stores in Canada; meaning about 40% of the store leases did not attract bidders.

Industry insiders are the best trend-watchers. Here’s what the experts are seeing.

“There is more selectivity in the site selection process. There is a trend toward downsizing, and more non-retail tenants are taking interest. There is also a growing divide between A-plus real estate and everything else in the market. Everyone wants the best properties.” — Mark Dufton, CEO of DJM Real Estate, a Gordon Brothers Group company

“Retailers are thinking about a smaller footprint, but in most cases not significantly smaller.

Despite claims that e-commerce will overtake traditional retail space, physical store locations are still attractive to retailers. In fact, they plan to open over 76,000 stores in the next 24 months, according to RBC Capital Markets data. And while several major retail closings have been announced this year, other retailers are stepping up expansion plans for new stores and concepts.

Growing retailers are all about the niche lifestyle — fast fashion, food, fitness and pharmacy — and focus on what consumers care about most, including value, quality, health and the environment.