Retail Watchers

How can this chain survive with stores that look like this? What is going on here? These are busy stores. I went into a couple obviously not busy stores that did not quite look this bad. Those stores look like newer stores. This was a lot older store that is now closed, but when I went a few months...

Chili's and Fridays have been closing stores for years and just announced a new round of closings. Applebee's continues to close stores and seems destined to become a mostly small market operation, at best. Denny's has had several rounds of closures---I think they benefited, over time, by the decli...

My Asian in-laws wouldn't set foot in a Ralphs if they were giving everything away. For some reason the brand has done very poorly with the Asian community and is strongly disliked. I'm unsure as to why. I was surprised my nieces had never been to a Ralphs in their life. Albertsons has done much bet...

I've never seen a Michaels close after a a Hobby Lobby opens. They are next door to each other all over SoCal and have been for a while now. Both chains have diverged quite a bit, Hobby Lobby has a fraction of the arts and crafts merchandise it did 15 years ago when they started the western expansi...

It's hard for me to see how Albertsons and Kroger thought this new deal would entice the FTC any better. I know someone said maybe it was simply to get the states that were suing off their backs, but the FTC was very clear that C&S is simply a questionable buyer, and it's going to take actual l...

Fresno’s Costco store located at West Shaw Avenue since 1985 will be replaced by a 219,000-square-foot warehouse in another part of the city by 2025. It will have 32 gas pumps, a car wash, and a food delivery service. Originally the new store was to be the largest in the world at 240,000 square fee...

Costco has something like 10 new store projects going in NorCal. It is quite interesting. I think they're trying to play chess to prevent Sam's Club from doing any expansion in the market. After Sam's Club closed two stores in metro Sacramento it doesn't bode too well. I think Costco may be hitting...

Westfield is continuing to invest in UTC San Diego, one of their best properties worldwide. They are redeveloping the former Nordstrom property that was demolished a few years ago after the larger replacement store opened. They will be opening the new mall expansion in phases starting in 2026. They ...

I think the 99 Only and Rite Aid closures will be a real estate jackpot for Aldi. Many of those SoCal Rite Aids are in that 22k square foot range (former Thrifty units) with the grocery co-anchor long gone so I expect Aldi can move in. I do not think Aldi is a good addition to the market but it is ...

Totally irrelevant post from someone not familiar with the area or company, but the pictures of the stores look very good. They appear to be a very good operator, and the description of the deal sounds sincere when they promise not to screw it up or change it excessively. And the name, which I hadn'...