North America’s leading retail real estate advisory services organisation ChainLinks Retail Advisors has recently released a new report that elaborates on the current expansion plans of hundreds of retail chains in the US.
“We are extremely proud to release our report – National Retailer and Restaurant Expansion Guide,” said Matt Kircher, president of ChainLinks Retail Advisors. “This is the first in a series of new reports that we will be launching this year. Our goal is to create nothing less than the gold standard in the industry in retail research reporting.”
The report finds retailers’ demand is up across the board. “As 2010 came to a close, growth plans were up 30 per cent from the levels we recorded last year,” said ChainLinks’ research director Garrick Brown. “Following the strong performance during this year’s holiday sales season, many chains further upped their growth plans. Right now, expansion plans are up 40 percent over last year’s levels.”
According to the report, some of the most active retailers currently, operating in the food and grocery vertical includes 7-Eleven, Aldi, Bottom Dollar Food, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Save-A-Lot and Walmart among others.
“Nearly every region in the US is experiencing an increase,” Brown explains. “The strongest surge in growth plans has been in those markets where unemployment is lowest. The greater Washington DC area remains highly desirable, as does the Eastern Seaboard from Boston to the Carolinas. We have also seen a considerable increase in retailer’s requirements in the Chicago market and Texas. Though both have elevated unemployment, both Florida and California have also seen a spike in retailer demand in most markets.”
“Ultimately,” Brown concludes, “the current surge demonstrates to us two key factors; the return of optimism within the retail sector, and the desire to expand quickly now – while rents are still low.”
– IndiaRetailing Bureau
