Burlington To Open 101 New Stores in 2025

[storewanderer]

They’re not the only ones opting for smaller stores. Marshall’s newest stores are much smaller than what used to be the norm for them. . There’s less closeout merchandise than in the past. Ironically, these smaller stores are about the size that early Marshall’s and others used—usually they were old super markets, variety stores or dry goods JCP stores.

Marshall's still does some large stores if they do the co-brand with Home Goods. Otherwise it seems like their new stores may not even be 20k square feet.

[Super S]

There is a newer location north of me in Lacey, WA that is in an old standalone TOP Foods building. It seems like it takes up about 1/2 to 2/3 of the building with a wall dividing the rest off. Not sure if that portion is being used for a warehouse or what, but there is no other storefront on the building.

They also took over an old 2 story Montgomery Ward in Salem, Oregon a while ago, and it was open on both levels for a while but eventually consolidated to the first floor. There is no other access to the upper story as the escalator is blocked off and the main mall is only 1 story. I would guess it could be storage, but it is not practical for receiving.

[ClownLoach]

There is a newer location north of me in Lacey, WA that is in an old standalone TOP Foods building. It seems like it takes up about 1/2 to 2/3 of the building with a wall dividing the rest off. Not sure if that portion is being used for a warehouse or what, but there is no other storefront on the building.

They also took over an old 2 story Montgomery Ward in Salem, Oregon a while ago, and it was open on both levels for a while but eventually consolidated to the first floor. There is no other access to the upper story as the escalator is blocked off and the main mall is only 1 story. I would guess it could be storage, but it is not practical for receiving.

It is increasingly popular for landlords to give up large spaces with a portion of the building mothballed. I have leased one personally and got a store more than double the size I needed. It's great because they just build the exact corporate prototype within the walls, no compromises, and then a large section is just closed off. But the build is done without the high costs that would go with splitting it for multiple tenants. That requires separation of life safety systems and other very costly modifications. It's cheaper for everyone involved to just let part of the box go to waste. I'm guessing it's a write off for the landlord.

[Alpha8472]

There is one Burlington in Dublin, California. It is a very strange store. It has 2 levels but is very narrow. The second level only has a limited amount of merchandise and you need to take the escalator. There is no shopping cart escalator so you have to carry your stuff or leave it behind on the ground level.

The rest of the second level is blocked off.

There was a 2 level very large Burlington in Concord, California that was also 2 levels. That one closed several years ago and relocated to a large former Toys R Us in Pleasant Hill, California. The new store was very fancy and quite large. These days they cannot fill the entire space.

[ClownLoach]

There is one Burlington in Dublin, California. It is a very strange store. It has 2 levels but is very narrow. The second level only has a limited amount of merchandise and you need to take the escalator. There is no shopping cart escalator so you have to carry your stuff or leave it behind on the ground level.

The rest of the second level is blocked off.

There was a 2 level very large Burlington in Concord, California that was also 2 levels. That one closed several years ago and relocated to a large former Toys R Us in Pleasant Hill, California. The new store was very fancy and quite large. These days they cannot fill the entire space.

The question I have is how can they afford all this moving and downsizing? Like you said these are many times very new stores that were extensively remodeled Toys R Us or Sports Authority. They are much nicer than the reused dingy department stores they used to occupy. I feel like it would be more productive to buy more merchandise and spend more on marketing to drive up sales in the existing newer, nicer stores. Then keep moving out of the old jumbo ones. If they keep moving stores in circles everywhere customers are going to lose interest in the brand. Nobody likes playing who moved the cheese when it's a whole building, and that seems to be their current practice.

[babs]

There is a newer location north of me in Lacey, WA that is in an old standalone TOP Foods building. It seems like it takes up about 1/2 to 2/3 of the building with a wall dividing the rest off. Not sure if that portion is being used for a warehouse or what, but there is no other storefront on the building.

They also took over an old 2 story Montgomery Ward in Salem, Oregon a while ago, and it was open on both levels for a while but eventually consolidated to the first floor. There is no other access to the upper story as the escalator is blocked off and the main mall is only 1 story. I would guess it could be storage, but it is not practical for receiving.

Burlington closed the location in Clackamas, OR that used to be a Fred Meyer and moved into a much smaller space down the street. They also opened a smaller location in Hillsboro, OR that I think used to be a Staples but at the same time they have listed for lease the location in Beaverton, OR that will be closing soon. This store has closed off nearly have the space with temporary walls. So really no net new stores in this market, just smaller locations.

[ClownLoach]

There is a newer location north of me in Lacey, WA that is in an old standalone TOP Foods building. It seems like it takes up about 1/2 to 2/3 of the building with a wall dividing the rest off. Not sure if that portion is being used for a warehouse or what, but there is no other storefront on the building.

They also took over an old 2 story Montgomery Ward in Salem, Oregon a while ago, and it was open on both levels for a while but eventually consolidated to the first floor. There is no other access to the upper story as the escalator is blocked off and the main mall is only 1 story. I would guess it could be storage, but it is not practical for receiving.

Burlington closed the location in Clackamas, OR that used to be a Fred Meyer and moved into a much smaller space down the street. They also opened a smaller location in Hillsboro, OR that I think used to be a Staples but at the same time they have listed for lease the location in Beaverton, OR that will be closing soon. This store has closed off nearly have the space with temporary walls. So really no net new stores in this market, just smaller locations.

The only way all this makes sense is if they were engaged in the "loss leader leasing" practices of Hobby Lobby. And that is very possible. The concept is pursue long vacant dead property like old Montgomery Ward, Sears, Kmart, etc. You go to the landlord and offer pennies on the dollar. Landlord wants $150K a month, you tell them you'll pay $10K a month and no CAM either.

The landlord has already taken as many write offs as they can, plus the other tenants in the center are usually getting rent breaks due to the anchor vacancy that could be tens of thousands per year, per tenant.

Even though the landlord is only getting paid a tiny percentage of what they want, their total income could actually go up hundreds of thousands of dollars because they can charge full rent again now that the absentee anchor is filled.

They probably were getting booted from the big department store and Kmart size boxes as demand grows to redevelop them into apartments. So then they went to big box vacancies like Toys R Us, Sports Authority and made the same kind of deals. Now those sites are coming into demand for reuse, so they once again are having to move along to the smaller boxes like Staples, Office Depot, etc. size.

That kind of low end leasing practice is probably why they are able to do this.

[Jeff]

Burlington closed the Arcadia store and "moved" it a couple miles away to Monrovia in a former TRU. The Arcadia was a fairly large 2-story location that had the second level closed for a very long time (it still had its 90s interior). The lower level kept shrinking as well. It originally was a Hinshaws department store.

Whittier was the same. Took over the flagship Hinshaws which was 3 levels. They use only 2 levels and the third was empty.
this store closed a few months ago as well.