Retail Watchers

Until 2009, this store had been a QFC https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/06/28/met-market-crown-hill.html https://www.myballard.com/2021/04/20/metropolitan-market-making-moves-to-take-over-former-crown-hill-value-village/?fbclid=IwAR3fnFtRJk55MGxWy7-FQuzPJiyYvuGQL6DBfLWf73Yhgz0BIuETBExxPB...

Turns out that Amazon was going to open either an Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods at Renton Landing southeast of Seattle! But they backed out of the lease and are being sued!

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/p ... a-lawsuit/

I was in University Place tonight and went to that Bartell Drugs on Bridgeport Way. That store’s lease is up. So there are a lot of empty shelves and that store is closing by June 1st. It is being consolidated into the James Center Rite Aid building. I also noticed that they are integrating local br...

We all know that brick and mortar retail is having problems. I don’t that that it will totally go away. Sure, online has killed off some of the weaker players and locations. I do think that of theft and remote office work has a lot to do with closures in downtowns! It is unfortunate to see this happ...

More divests likely:

This is behind a paywall:

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/new ... tment.html

No paywall:

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... ore-stores

More likely Ahold buys Albertsons if the merger with Kroger doesn’t go thru…with Kroger buying overlapping East Coast assets. The Canadian ops aren’t interested in US operations, the Mexican ones don’t have the money or the knowledge to operate across the country. I still kind of wonder if Pattison...

Looks like Harris Teeter dodged getting the Kroger Slice Cart Logo and the “Fresh for Everyone” tagline. The new tagline will be “In Food With Love”! Sound a little bit like Albertsons “Sincerely, Food” tagline! It will fit in if the merger happens! https://www.progressivegrocer.com/news-briefs?crea...

Weight Watchers is kind of a specialty retail chain. Before COVID, you could find many brick and mortar locations in various strip malls and community shopping centers. There are also meetings that happen at senior centers, community centers, churches, hotel meeting rooms, etc. When COVID hit, they ...

Looks like there is movement on the divestiture front:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/k ... 023-02-10/

Here’s something interesting about a possible direction for Amazon Fresh from Geek Wire:

https://www.geekwire.com/2023/amazon-ma ... hA8Wr6eZ8I