Retail Watchers

Useless trivia- millennials became the first generation whose go-to food was not Italian. We prefer Mexican… but Gen Z prefers Asian. Tastes are diversifying. Depends where you live. DC never had much in the way decent Italian and the pizza only started to get better when styles from elsewhere in t...

The NYC store is a very odd location, but it would be difficult for them to locate where their customers are. The high end retail has migrated to a stretch of Madison Avenue that is perfect for boutiques and full line men's or women's retailers but not for even a modestly large store. The high end r...

Lakewood, et al. have always had a large Orthodox community. I've had a number of friends and colleagues from around there. Most of their families came to that area because of an Orthodox "back to the land" movement that started in the Bronx and Brooklyn in the early 20th century and more ...

The people who do these surveys never reveal the methodology and the way they define Metro areas can be a little odd. What matters over time is using the same sampling methods and being able to look at year over year trends and have some idea of what differences between chains would be within measur...

The characterization of the northern NJ market sounds an awful lot like Southern California in the sense that there's a lot of specialty competition. If Kroger can't win with Ralphs in Southern California, they're not going to do it in Northern NJ. Their usual level of mediocrity and defensive play ...

The merger was engineered by the private equity that was financing their rapid expansion. The Foxtrots in DC generally seemed to do an ok business with the exception of the one near me, which had opened last year. Interestingly, they had just constructed an enclosure for outside seating at that one....

If a chain is in long-term decline, then rising rents will give them more reason to keep closing stores. I'm surprised when I see any of these places that have been named, because they've gotten fewer and fewer. International operations probably keep some of them afloat--chains like Shkey's and Kenn...

ClownLatch brings up some excellent points. I don’t agree chains have a natural flight — many (Denny’s,, Chili’s, Friday’s, etc.) have a managed to stay revelant even as their peers perished. And Texas Roadhouse continues to grow and thrive while Outback does the opposite… even though Texas Roadhou...

ClownLatch brings up some excellent points. I don’t agree chains have a natural flight — many (Denny’s,, Chili’s, Friday’s, etc.) have a managed to stay revelant even as their peers perished. And Texas Roadhouse continues to grow and thrive while Outback does the opposite… even though Texas Roadhou...

These are relatively high density areas, so more visits wouldn't be unusual, and individual sales might be on the low side. NJ is still a relatively small part of their footprint. These stores may be attached to something more profitable, otherwise I suspect Ahold would have sold them. They seem to ...