Archive for January 12th, 2009
by David Bodamer January 12th, 2009
Drained by the worst consumer-spending slump in decades and burdened by debt, U.S. retailers are expected to begin a wave of post-holiday bankruptcy filings, altering the landscape at malls and on main streets across the country.
Retailers are particularly vulnerable in the current downturn after a decade of buoyant consumer spending, which encouraged them to overexpand and overborrow. Now, the banks and private investors who financed the boom are pulling back.
Several of the industry’s biggest lenders, including General Electric Co.’s GE Capital, CIT Group Inc. and Wachovia Corp., are tightening lending terms and reducing exposure to retailers. Their tougher terms are making it harder for retailers to find capital to reorganize under bankruptcy-court protection, as they were able to do in the past, meaning there are likely to be more liquidations.
Link.
Related Topics: News, Retail |
by David Bodamer January 12th, 2009
The Cincinnati Enquirer has a good look at a new Wal-Mart test store–a former 220,000-square-foot location that’s now 93,000 square feet smaller and features a more open layout.
Like no other Walmart in the world, the smaller store has a new color scheme, wider aisles, lower shelving, “green” lighting, unobstructed views and a renovated pharmacy and restrooms.
Shrinking the store by 40 percent and making it easier to navigate weren’t the only changes. The store, which opened in May 2006, has also been re-branded – subtly. Gone are the hyphen and old-style star on the store sign between the “Wal” and “Mart.”
The staid blue-on-boring-beige color scheme? Gone. Instead, the store features a bright harvest gold with two tones of blue.
The place just doesn’t look or feel like a Walmart, and that’s by design, said Mike Ellison, market manager for the retailer and the man responsible for operations at this and 10 other stores in the region.
“Sam Walton always said 20 percent of the products do 80 percent of the business,” Ellison said. “We have a very focused and calibrated store. We listened to our customers, listened to their feedback. We wanted to understand what their needs were and wanted an environment that was more intimate and created a convenient shopping experience.”
Link.
Related Topics: Architecture & Design, News, Retail |
by David Bodamer January 12th, 2009
Al Boscov made a sales pitch to Snyder County last week, asking the county’s commissioners to approve a federally backed loan to help him complete his purchase of the Boscov’s department store chain.
Nonetheless, Snyder County commissioners voted 2-1 against supporting the loan.
Snyder was one of seven counties being asked to support $5 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or a total of $35 million. Snyder County is the only one to refuse, so far.
The $35 million is part of a state commitment to help Boscov keep the Reading-based department store chain in business. Boscov and his brother-in-law, Ed Lakin, led a family group that bought the store chain’s assets out of bankruptcy court earlier this month for $300 million.
State officials had said that Snyder County’s participation wasn’t essential to make the deal work. But Steve Weitzman, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said he was “extremely disappointed” with the vote. He said the state will be touching base with the Snyder County Commissioners. “We’d like them to revisit it.”
Link.
Past links and stories:
- Dec. 17, 2008, PREIT, Cafaro Lend Boscov’s a Helping Hand
- Dec. 11, 2008, Cafaro, PREIT Help Keep Boscov’s Afloat
- Oct. 1, 2008, Bankruptcy Judge Approves Boscov’s Sale
- Sept. 19, 2008, Boscov’s Finds a Buyer
- Aug. 7, 2008, Boscov’s Secures Financing
- Aug. 4, 2008, Boscov’s Files for Bankruptcy
- July 28, 2008, Boscov’s Boss Says Retailer is Not Collapsing
- July 25, 2008, Is Boscov’s Another Troubled Retailer?
- March 1, 2006, Boscov’s Beefs Up
Related Topics: Finance, News, Retail, Trends |
by David Bodamer January 12th, 2009
A glut of new shopping centers in Chandler, Ariz., along side the well-documented slowdown in the retail sector has created a conundrum. There are too many retail properties and not enough shopping activity to sustain them. One solution? Demolition. That’s what local developer Michael Pollack suggested over the weekend.
“Probably its highest and best use today would be to reinvent it as some form of high-density residential,” Pollack said. The largely vacant East Valley Mall on the northwestern corner of Arizona Avenue and Warner Roads is the poster child for retail blight.
That center is a candidate for high-density housing, Pollack said.
Another spot ripe for reuse is the vacant building formerly occupied by Food for Less next to the East Valley Mall.
Pollack, who owns more than a dozen shopping centers in Chandler, said none of his centers are candidates for mixed-use projects, but that his land on two corners at Alma School and Pecos could be mixed-use.
“Chandler doesn’t need four more corners of retail at that particular intersection.”
Related Topics: Development, Management & Leasing, Mixed-Use, News, Retail Real Estate |
Deal Junkie Takes on Seeking Alpha
by David Bodamer January 12th, 2009
Brian Kelly at Seeking Alpha put up two posts in the past few days, “CMBS Delinquencies Rise: Should the Government Step In?” and “Commercial Mortgages: The $400 Billion Ticking Time Bomb” that Deal Junkie didn’t appreciate very much as is described in a post from Sunday, Those Who Bet Against CRE.
No Comments Related Topics: Commentary, Finance, News, REITs |