Tag Archives: business journalism

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COLUMN: Will Publix-Whole Foods merger stay just a rumor?

By Justine Griffin for the Herald-Tribune

A peculiar rumor about Florida’s No. 1 grocer, Publix Supermarkets, and upscale organic retailer Whole Foods Market grew legs and took off over the weekend.

The viral story about Publix buying Whole Foods spread quickly, appearing in newspapers across Florida and around the Internet. Whether or not you like the idea — and no one knows for sure where this rumor started, or why — it seems unlikely to be true.

The buzz began last week, when Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods’ stock jumped 6.6 percent on Wall Street in two days, and options activity spiked. Whole Foods’ profile also was raised when it was ranked on the 2014 Fortune 500 list announced last week.

Publix, too, has seen substantial growth so far this year. The Lakeland-based retailer posted $7.8 billion in sales in the first quarter, up about 4 percent compared with the same period last year.

But their growth is no reason the companies might merge, analysts say.

Read more here.

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Is Sprouts Farmers Market coming to Florida?

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By Justine Griffin for the Herald-Tribune

Southwest Florida, already flush with new arrivals, is poised to welcome even more new grocery brands as companies in the West continue to expand into the Southeast.

Retail analysts buzzed about Sprouts Farmers Market last month at the International Council of Shopping Centers RECON convention in Las Vegas.

The boutique-like grocery chain concept out of Arizona competes with Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, and is now one of the fastest-growing retailers in the country; it has more than 170 stores in nine states.

Sprouts now has its eye on the Southeast, with four stores set to open in Georgia this summer. Analysts believe Sprouts will start opening stores in Florida within the year.

“Sprouts is hot and heavy this year, and definitely marching in the direction of Florida,” said Jeff Green, retail analyst with Phoenix-based Jeff Green Partners. “They fill a cool niche and have amazing produce turnover.”

The Sarasota-Bradenton market is no newcomer when it comes to drawing new and emerging brands: The Fresh Market opened its first store in Southwest Florida in a Kohl’s-anchored plaza on University Parkway in 2009.

A second store opened in Bradenton in 2012, and the company is considering opening a third in southern Sarasota County.

In 2012, Trader Joe’s opened its second store in Florida on Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, and Costco Wholesale arrived at the Sarasota Square mall.

Gordon Food Service, a grocery chain that caters mostly to the restaurant supply business, is building its second Southwest Florida store in the former Sound Advice building, near Stickney Point Road.

The company is rumored to be opening a third in Port Charlotte later this year.

Then there’s Wawa, a Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain known for its sandwiches and grocery options. It has filed building permits to open its first Sarasota County store by next year on top of three sites in Manatee County and another targeting Venice.

Despite all those big chains coming into the market — and the ones already here, locally owned smaller retailers like Richard’s Foodporium and Morton’s Gourmet Market — analysts are confident there’s room enough for Sprouts to thrive here, too.

Read more here.

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International players have role in Westfield’s new strategy

By Justine Griffin for the Herald-Tribune

What do you do when faced with the imminent threat of being dethroned as the regional shopping centers?

Une option est de ramener les joueurs internationaux qui exciteront vos clients fantaisie.

(That’s roughly: “One option is to bring in international players that will tickle your customers’ fancy” — for those of you who don’t parler français).

Westfield Group — the Australian company known globally for malls and lifestyle centers, and known here for its ownership of the Southgate and Sarasota Square malls — plans to do just that: Reel in more international tenants as it continues to transform its Southwest Florida properties to better compete with the new $315 million Mall at University Town Center.

“Sarasota customers should expect to see some larger international names come to the properties real soon,” said Greg Miles, Westfield’s chief operating officer. “We aim to create lifestyle centers now, multifaceted places that offer a variety of shopping opportunities — not just malls or grocery stores anymore.”

Some of Southgate tenants have already been poached by the Mall at University Town Center, a project under development at University Parkway and Interstate 75 by Michigan’s Taubman Centers and Manatee County-based Benderson Development.

But Westfield has formed relationships with a new group of retailers — high-end brands from Europe that have few or no stores in the United States just yet — in hopes that these will fill vacancies left by brands like Gymboree, Saks Fifth Avenue, Pottery Barn, Express and others.

It would not be the mall owners’ first attempts to show some international flair.

Read more here.

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Sarasota area reels in Bass Pro Shop, sources say

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By Justine Griffin for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

In a deal that’s been rumored for years, sources confirmed Tuesday that Southwest Florida has reeled in another big retail fish: Bass Pro Shops plans to open a store in this market.

The likely location of the megastore — which sell fishing, camping, hunting, boating and other gear — is at University Parkway and Interstate 75, near the under-construction Mall at University Town Center, sources said.

The Springfield, Missouri-based chain — with a store in Fort Myers and another being built in Brandon — has been aggressively expanding into Florida.

It is unclear when the local store is to open or when construction might begin. Representatives of the chain did not return a call for comment on Tuesday.

Bass Pro Shops stores vary in size, but the company’s traditional model, called “Outdoor World,” can be up to 300,000 square feet and is usually situated at a major thoroughfare, near other strong retail plazas or malls.

In recent years, smaller-format stores — 60,000 square feet — have opened to “in fill” areas in between their larger stores.

The Sarasota-Bradenton store will likely be one of those smaller-store formats, common among expanding companies these days, said Phoenix-based retail analyst Jeff Green, who is familiar with the Southwest Florida market.

Read more here.

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Malls’ brighter future is apparent in Vegas

By Justine Griffin for the Herald-Tribune

Real estate developers and retail chain executives are cautiously optimistic that 2014 is the year for chain stores to expand into new markets and for overall industry growth.

With retail sales up in April more than 4.1 percent compared with a year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers trade group, analysts are hopeful that more new business is on the horizon.

That could mean more new brands coming to Southwest Florida in the near future.

The optimism can be seen in the record number of people in Las Vegas this week at the council’s annual ICSC RECON convention — the largest retail real estate gathering in the world. Industry officials hope to sign more new deals and build momentum to pre-recession levels.

“We’re coming off a strong ICSC conference in New York last December, and now there are more people going to ICSC in Vegas than the last five years,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of the retail team for New York City-based Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

“Florida is such an important market that’s seen a lot of growth and change — a lot of great survivors down there, reinventing the wheel,” she said.

Read more here.