Downtown Pittsburgh Aims to Reinvigorate Vacant Storefronts
Pennsylvania’s second most-populous city seeks to boost retail occupancy in its core by 10% within the next decade. Among the action items in the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s new three-year plan, unveiled on Wednesday, is “to activate vacant storefronts with diverse offerings to foster economic stability and variety.”
The partnership is considering rent abatements to fill empty storefronts, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. “There are some real opportunities for some transformative retail,” said partnership president and CEO Jeremy Waldrup. In the fourth quarter, downtown’s retail vacancy rate stood at 4.1%, according to Colliers’ fourth-quarter Pittsburgh retail report.
Walmart Spotlights Streetfront Shops at New Corporate HQ
Photo courtesy of Walmart
Walmart reigns as the world’s largest retailer when measured by revenue, according to the National Retail Federation’s Top 50 Global Retailers 2024, compiled by Kantar. So it should come as no surprise that Walmart’s new 350-acre headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, is showcasing the retail sector.
The corporate campus, which debuted on Jan. 17, will feature nearly a dozen streetfront retail shops that’ll be open to the public. Set to open this spring are Bentonville Bicycle Co., Flyway Brewing, Gearhead Outfitters, The Gents Place men’s grooming, Hatch brunch restaurant, Jamba, Riserva Bar + Tapas, Swig, Walmart Pharmacy, Wright’s Barbecue and Yokozuna sushi. Also on campus will be the 153-room AC Hotel Bentonville, scheduled to open in early 2025. Walmart senior vice president of corporate real estate Cindi Marsiglio wrote in a blog post that the multibillion-dollar project is “more than just a place to work — it’s a space to thrive, dream big and shape the future of retail.”
AC Hotel Bentonville rooftop Image courtesy of Walmart
A Costco in Alaska Photo credit: trongnguyen - stock.adobe.com
America’s Big 3 retailers keep getting bigger. Corporate and government data cited by The Wall Street Journal shows that the three with the most revenue — Costco, Walmart and Amazon — accounted for 11% of U.S. retail sales in 2014 and 17% for the first three quarters of 2024. From 2014 to 2024, they represented about 57% of U.S. retail sales growth. That growth has come in part at the expense of grocery stores and dollar stores, the WSJ reported.
“Massive Growth” Predicted for QSR and Convenience Store Sectors
Photo courtesy of Sheetz
For those tracking retailers in store-expansion mode, keep an eye on convenience store operators and quick-service restaurants. Northmarq’s Top 100: Tenant Expansion Trends report for the fourth quarter cited restaurant chains Jack in The Box and Slim Chickens, as well as convenience store chains Sheetz and Wawa, as some of the players “targeting massive growth.” Furthermore, discount retailers like Five Below and Ross Dress for Less and big-box retailers like Lowe’s and Walmart have laid out substantial growth plans, according to the report.
“Recent headlines have been filled with bankruptcy announcements, failed mergers and acquisitions and going-out-of-business sales, but the future is expected to be brighter across the retail sector as brands across a variety of industries look to expand,” said Northmarq senior director of content and marketing research Lanie Beck.
“Recent headlines have been filled with bankruptcy announcements, failed mergers and acquisitions and going-out-of-business sales, but the future is expected to be brighter across the retail sector as brands across a variety of industries look to expand.”
Dollar and Discount Stores Saw Biggest Gains in Retail Foot Traffic in 2024
Likely benefiting from consumers’ concerns about inflation, dollar and discount stores saw the biggest bump in foot traffic in 2024 among all U.S. retail sectors. According to Placer.ai’s 2024 Retail Foot Traffic Recap, foot traffic at dollar and discount stores spiked 2.8% from 2023 to 2024. The dollar-and-discount category was followed by superstores, whose foot traffic rose 1.7%; beauty and spa, where foot traffic grew 1.6%; clothing, which increased 1.5%; and grocery stores, where foot traffic grew 1%. Foot traffic at U.S. shopping centers rose 1.3%, and overall foot traffic in the U.S. retail industry inched up 0.4%, according to Placer.ai.
Walgreens Plans 450 Store Closures by August
Photo courtesy of Walgreens Boots Alliance
In conjunction with its turnaround plan, the parent company of Walgreens has identified about 450 drugstores that it’ll shutter during the rest of its 2025 fiscal year, which will end in August. Walgreens Boots Alliance shuttered about 70 stores during the first quarter, which ended on Nov. 30.
CEO Tim Wentworth said during the retailer’s first-quarter earnings call this month that remaining drugstores are projected to outperform drugstores slated for closure by about 250 basis points in front-end sales and about 390 basis points in pharmacy sales. He told analysts: “A smaller footprint will be a healthier one for our company.” Walgreens had announced in October that it targeted 1,200 store closures over the next three years, including 500 during the 2025 fiscal year.
Advance Auto Parts Will Unload 224 Leased and Owned Stores
Photo credit: M. Suhail - stock.adobe.com
Advance Auto Parts is getting rid of more than 200 leased stores and two dozen company-owned stores across 46 states. Hilco Real Estate is marketing the store leases and owned properties as Advance Auto Parts shrinks its U.S. footprint. The average leased store is around 8,000 square feet, while the owned stores range from 5,000 to 15,000. Bids for the owned properties are due in mid-March.
In November, the retailer said it planned to shed 523 corporate stores and 204 independently owned stores. During the 40-week period ending on Oct. 5, Advance Auto Parts opened 23 stores and closed 29. As of last October, it had 4,781 stores.
By John Egan
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today