Retail entrepreneur women to be featured in docuseries

Are you aware about the trailblazing women who helped change the face of retail in the 20th century and even before? These include Lord + Taylor’s Dorothy Shaver, Bonwit Teller & Co.'s Hortense Odlum and Henri Bendel’s Geraldine Stutz.

In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum began her career in marketing her husband's store and ended up running Bonwit Teller. During World War II, Dorothy Shaver promoted American over Parisian designers and her success led her to earn $1 million in salary at Lord & Taylor. And in the 1960s, Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel re-invented the look of the modern department store.

All of this is in a book published last year. It is titled “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion," written by Julie Satow. Now, that book has just landed on best-seller lists from The New York Times and USA Today, and the story is getting traction.

But not everyone reads books, so Macy's has acquired the exclusive rights to develop a scripted TV series based on the book to raise the profile of these women. Macy’s CMO Sharon Otterman spearheaded the deal.

In this adaptation, Macy’s is looking to spotlight the often unsung role women played in shaping department stores. Macy’s Margaret Getchell, third cousin to Rowland Hussey Macy, the department store's founder, was one of the first women in retail to hold an executive role in the 19th century. As such, Getchell will be added to the screen adaptation of the documentary series, which is likely to be available for streaming by one of the streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or HBO MAX TV, when the project is completed. That deal has not been finalized, but I'll look forward to streaming it.

“These are stories of resilience, ambition and creativity — women who understood the power of storytelling and branding long before it was a business strategy,” Otterman said in a press release.

Read more: Macy’s to Develop TV Series on Women in Retail (Women’s Wear Daily)

Forever 21 lying on its deathbed underscores that in retail, nothing is forever.

It's sad to see Forever 21 finally lying on its deathbed, an ironic ending that underscores that in retail, nothing is forever.

As vacancies are still low at A-plus mall properties, Forever 21 closures will be a good thing for those landlords, which will quickly replace those vacancies with more productive retailers at higher rents. However, in bankruptcy cases, the court tries to sell those leases, and that would be bad for any landlord. RCS Real Estate Advisors has already began to market about 360 store leases in the U.S.

Fast fashion is a segment where strong players such as Zara are doing well but others like Forever 21 can’t seem to turn out a profit.

Some international online competitors like SHEIN and Temu have been detrimental to Forever 21 and other fast fashion retailers because they sell fast fashion directly to American consumers bypassing tariffs through the "de minimis" tariff loophole that allows these online sellers to import single items without tariffs while Forever 21 and other retailers that import the merchandise in bulk from China have to pay tariffs.

Another problem that is inherent with Forever 21 is the very large footprint of most of its leased premises, which ranges from 4,000 to 150,000 sq. ft. The average Forever 21 store is 21,000 sq. ft. Because of its size, the chain hasn’t managed to perform adequately on a sales-per-square-foot basis to pay for its occupancy costs. Today, retailers are shrinking their footprints to achieve greater sales and minimize occupancy costs, all on a per-square-foot basis.

Read more: Mall mainstay Forever 21 slated to close all 350 stores in second bankruptcy (CoStar News)

Mexican fast-casual Qdoba and Chipotle Mexican Grill continue rapid expansion

Qdoba Restaurant Corporation, America's No. 2 restaurant brand in the Mexican fast-casual category after Chipotle Mexican Grill, has built a pipeline of more than 500 restaurants to be opened in the future through franchise commitments throughout most areas of the country, according to Jeremy Vitaro, Chief Development Officer at QDOBA.

But even with those commitments, QDOBA continues to seek experienced multi-unit franchisees to develop key markets, including Atlanta, Orlando, Nashville and Tampa, while also expanding in non-traditional venues such as airports, universities, military bases, and casinos.

As the fast casual Mexican food chain continues to expand, total sales sales have increased accordingly but because of brand recognition, so have same store sales. QDOBA achieved a 6.1% comp sales growth in fiscal year 2023, followed by 7.7% comp sales growth in fiscal year 2024. Chipotle’s comp sales increased by 7.4% in 2024, signifying that the fast casual Mexican food category dominated by both restaurant chains continue to perform well.

QDOBA now operates approximately 800 locations in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. However, in the fast casual Mexican category, QDOBA is dwarfed by Chipotle, which has grown through company-owned stores rather than through franchising as is the case with QDOBA.

There are over 3,700 Chipotle restaurants as of December 31, 2024, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. Chipotle is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants in North America and Europe.

Chipotle added more than 300 new restaurants in 2024 and plans to add another 315 to 345 new company-owned restaurant openings in 2025 with over 80% having drive-thru access.

Read more: QDOBA Celebrates Remarkable Franchise Growth with 500+ Development Commitments (PRNewswire QDOBA)

Ross Stores plans to open 90 new stores in 2025

Ross Stores, Inc. plans to open 90 new stores in fiscal year 2025; about 80 stores under the Ross Dress for Less banner and 10 dd’s Discounts locations.

According to Richard Lietz, EVP, property development at Ross Stores,
the company expanded Ross's presence in the newer markets of Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York, while dd’s growth primarily focused on existing markets in California, Georgia and Texas.

Ross now operates 2,205 Ross Dress for Less and dd’s Discounts locations across 44 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. Ross's long-term goal for brick-and-mortar locations is about 3,600 locations, so they have 1,400 more stores to open in the coming years.

Read more: Ross Plans 90 New Stores This Year; Long-Term Goal is 3,600 Locations (Retail Touchpoints)

"Medtail" continues to thrive at neighborhood shopping centers

Medical uses in a retail setting or #Medtail for short is alive and well at your neighborhood shopping center as more medical service providers seek locations at America’s neighborhood centers.

PDS Health is just one of many. According to Chris Aguon, vice president of real estate for PDS Health, which operates more than 300 dental units in California, PDS loves neighborhood grocery-anchored centers because people buy food often and many of the shoppers are women.

“We found that women tend to make most of the healthcare decisions for the house,” he said. “If they notice that the dentist is conveniently located in that same center, they’ll tend to give us a try.”

Are you seeing more or less interest from medical uses?

Read more: Getting a filling — at the mall. Why dentists and other wellness tenants are in big demand (Los Angeles Times)

Jollibee plans 350 new restaurants in the next couple of years

The QSR fried chicken brand of Philippines-based Jollibee Group wants to expand its restaurant count from its current 76 throughout 14 states in the U.S. and 28 in Canada to 350 across both the U.S. and Canada in the next couple of years through a newly launched franchising program.

Locations targeted include typical fast food formats, such as freestanding buildings with or without drive-thru, strip center endcaps, urban storefronts and exterior mall entrances. However, Jollibee is also open to exploring opportunities in other high-traffic locations, like airports, transit hubs, food courts and college campuses.

Through its 19 brands, Jollibee Group operates over 9,500 stores across 32 countries.

Read more: Jollibee launches first U.S. franchise program (Chain Store Age)

Ollie's, Variety Wholesalers opening stores at former Big Lots locations

Ollie's Bargain Outlet, Inc. is purchasing 40 more leases for a total of 63 Big Lots store leases, all of which will be reopened this year as Ollie’s branded stores.

The company carefully curated the appropriate Big Lots leases from Gordon Brothers, the liquidation company that bought the defunct Big Lots chain from the bankruptcy court and has been marketing the leases and other assets.

These locations are the right size, come with favorable lease terms, are located in existing or adjacent trade areas, and have long serviced value conscious consumers, according to Eric van der Valk, president and CEO of Ollie’s.

With these acquisitions and the additional organic store openings, Ollie’s will open a net total of 75 stores in 2025, a tremendous growth spurt for the close-out merchandise chain that usually grows by 10% a year since its IPO in 2015.

The company's mascot, which bears a striking resemblance to Albert Einstein, is based on a caricature of Oliver “Ollie” Rosenburg, who together with Mark Butler, Mort Bernstein and Harry Coverman opened the first Ollie’s store on July 29, 1982 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Prior to the anticipated openings, Ollie’s operated 568 stores in 31 states.

Besides Ollie’s and other retailers scooping up Big Lots leases, Variety Wholesalers, Inc., the North Carolina-based company, has acquired more than 200 Big Lots leases, and plans four waves of store openings under the Big Lots name.

The first wave of reopenings will start in April 2025 for nine stores in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

The second wave of Big Lots reopenings by Variety Wholesalers is rumored to begin in May 2025 in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and West Virginia.

In addition to the new Big Lots branded stores, Variety Wholesalers operates chains under the Roses, Roses Express, Maxway, Bill's Dollar Stores, Super 10, Super Dollar and Bargain Town brands.

Prior to the bankruptcy led closure of all 870 stores in 47 states, Big Lots had been in business for 57 years.

Read more: Retail chain announces plans to acquire 40 former Big Lots locations (PennLive/The Patriot-News)

DICK'S Sporting Goods is optimizing its real estate portfolio

Here’s the good news: DICK'S Sporting Goods opened seven House of Sport locations and 15 Field House stores in 2024, with plans to open 16 and 18, respectively, in 2025.

Now for the bad news: About 70% of these store openings are relocations or reimaginings of current stores, not net new openings, according to Dick’s CFO Navdeep Gupta.

Reimaginings can be several things like upgrading a regular Dick’s into a House of Sport concept, relocating an older store into a newer larger location or changing a Dick’s Public Lands banner store or a Moosejaw into a Dick’s branded store. In any event, Dick’s is a great concept every landlord wants to anchor a property.

Read more: Dick’s plots ‘significant investments’ in stores, digital as winning streak continues (Retail Dive)

CVS Pharmacy is opening much smaller stores

CVS Pharmacy is cutting its store footprint in half to get more profitable given the drastic changes in the drugstore business.

CVS introduced the smaller store format that will focus exclusively on pharmacy services to better meet the specific pharmacy needs of today’s customers.

The company plans to open in 2025 about a dozen of the smaller stores, which are about half the size of the traditional CVS layout and will eliminate the front-end retail section as part of the company's broader strategy to realign its business model in a changing industry.

However, the cutting of real estate is not limited to individual stores. The CVS turnaround plan also includes more than 1,000 store closures. Walgreens and RITE AID have also reduced real estate in recent years, and you can expect more to follow.

Read more: CVS is opening smaller stores that only have pharmacies (CNN Business)

Costco, Walmart and other retailers pursue affluent customers

One retail category that’s done surprisingly well for Costco Wholesale in recent times: luxury goods. ROLEX watches, Dom Pérignon champagne, 10-carat diamonds and gold bars, according to the chain that operates large warehouse clubs associated with buying staples in bulk.

Affluent people love a good deal and they have money to spend.

Costco isn’t the only retailer to pursue affluent customers as high-income earners continue to account for a higher share of total consumer purchases in the U.S. Walmart has expanded its selection of high-end Apple products, Bose Corporation headphones and other items sought after by more-affluent customers, as part of a stab at upleveling the Walmart brand.

Read more: Why Costco is targeting the rich, with deals on Rolexes, 10-carat diamonds and gold bars (Fast Company)

BJ’s Wholesale Club plans to open second small format store and 25-30 new warehouses over the next two years

BJ's Wholesale Club plans to add 25 to 30 new warehouse stores in the next two years. According to Bob Eddy, chairman and CEO of BJ’s Wholesale Club, the Dallas-Ft. Worth market offers significant expansion opportunities for BJ's starting in 2026. In 2025, store openings include Casselberry and Delray Beach, Florida, Warner Robins, Georgia, Whippany, New Jersey, Staten Island, New York and Sevierville, Tennessee.

The 2025 openings include Brooksville, Florida and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (both opened in February), and Southern Pines, North Carolina, which opened on March 7.

BJ's introduced a new concept branded as BJ's Market stores, which are about half the size of a full-sized BJ's Wholesale Club, focusing on a selection of groceries, household essentials and other fast moving merchandise. The new concept still requires a BJ's membership to shop. The first location is 43,000 square feet, which opened in Warwick, Rhode Island in 2022 and the second one will be the Delray Beach store that will open in 2025.

Headquartered in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the company operates 252 clubs and 188 BJ's Gas locations in 21 states.

Read more: BJ’s Wholesale Club Announces Expansion into Texas as Part of Plan to Add 25-30 New Clubs Over Next Two Fiscal Years (Business Wire)

What is causing so many stores to permanently close in 2025?

Store closures are expected to increase significantly in 2025, according to Coresight Research. What is causing this and what has been the trend in recent years?

Let’s first look at Covid and pre-Covid. In 2019, many store closures appeared to be caused by retailers rightsizing their real estate in the face of competition from online sales. Then the pandemic hit in 2020, reducing tenant sales and profits from temporary closings and declining patronage for most stores other than grocery stores, which resulted in tenant bankruptcies that led to many permanent store closures.

The period that followed led to a slowdown of store closures partly proppped up by federal stimulus pumped into the economy. Then in 2023, we started seeing a rise in store closures, likely caused by rising interest rates and a slowdown of housing sales because unaffordable mortgages led to less residential mobility, which in turn meant less demand for certain categories, such as home improvement and home furnishings.

Other trends also tend to affect tenant bankruptcies, downsizing or a slowdown in growth of physical stores by national chains.

For example, dollar stores were hit by inflation and have had to alter expansion plans. Dollar Tree Stores has closed almost 700 of its poorly performing Family Dollar stores, while 99 Cents Only Stores shuttered all locations.

A shift from casual restaurants to fast casual restaurants has resulted in some bankruptcies and real estate downsizing through closures, such as Red Robin, TGI Fridays, Denny's, Ruby Tuesday, Rubio's Coastal Grill, Hooters of America and Red Lobster.

Drug store chains have experienced declining reimbursement rates for prescription drugs, intense competition from online retailers like Amazon and changing consumer habits, which are leading to staggering store closures for chains like CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, RITE AID and others. This is not a new trend. CVS, the largest U.S. chain, closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020, and in 2021, it announced plans to close an additional 900 stores over several years.

Online banking has stalled the expansion of physical banks and the electrifying of automobiles will likely slow down the need for more gas stations.

Department stores, that is, the few chains that are left today, such as JCPenney, Macy's and Kohl's are rethinking their real estate strategy and are closing or downsizing their physical store footprint.

Conn’s Home Furnishings, American Freight Appliances & Furniture, Bob's Discount Furniture, HomeLife, Bed Bath & Beyond and other home furnishings chains contributed to stores closures in recent times.

Fast forward to 2025, the announcements of impending store closures from Macy's, Party City, JOANN Stores, Big Lots and others has led Coresight Research to predict that 15,000 locations could shutter in 2025. That would equate to a 55% increase over 2020’s count, and would more than double the total of store closures in 2024.

Mexican casual food chain On The Border filed for Chapter 11 and closed 40 restaurants

On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina closed 40 of its restaurants and filed for Chapter 11, the latest casual restaurant chain to file for reorganization as the shift has turned from casual to fast casual restaurants.

TGI Fridays, Denny's, Ruby Tuesday, Rubio's Coastal Grill and Red Lobster have filed for protection in bankruptcy court during the past year, with Hooters of America potentially joining the list.

Argonne Capital Group, a closely-held private investment firm that owns On The Border has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on behalf of the popular Tex-Mex chain in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia this week.

Read more: Popular Tex-Mex restaurant chain files for bankruptcy (New York Post)

Nordstrom is still aggressively expanding discount concept Rack

The most promising aspect of the marriage between Nordstrom and Mexican department store chain El Puerto de Liverpool is likely to result in a considerable market-driven expansion of Nordstrom Rack, a formidable competitor to discount fashion apparel chain TJMaxx.

The partnership that will take Nordstrom private won’t close until sometime late spring or early summer 2025 but the Nordstrom family-run chain has been aggressively opening Rack stores as the discount sector continues to experience demand while department stores in the U.S. continue to struggle.

Nordstrom opened 23 Nordstrom Rack stores in fiscal year 2024 and plans to open an additional 21 locations in 2025. Will we see an accelerated expansion of the Rack chain in 2026? I think so.

According to the latest reports, Nordstrom operates 277 Nordstrom Rack stores. For comparison, The TJX Companies, Inc. operates 1,333 TJMaxx locations and 1,230 MARSHALLS LLC locations in the U.S. alone.

Read more: Nordstrom doubles down on expansion of discount brand for future growth

Global retail chains continue to expand in the U.S.

When leasing to retailers, think globally.

Nearly 19,000 stores opened in the U.S. between 2018 and 2023 and about 28% of those were foreign-owned retailers, according to GlobalData

Global retail chains, such as Ireland’s Primark, Spain-based MANGO, Canadian retailer Aritzia and Japan-based UNIQLO have been recently adding new stores across the U.S. — and pushing into regions where they haven’t gone before, outside of coastal cities like New York City or Los Angeles.

Twenty most influential retailers for the past 100 years

Chain Store Age, which is celebrating 100 years publishing news about chain stores has identified 20 visionary retailers who, over the course of the past 100 years, have altered the retail landscape and transformed the way people shop.

Among them are Walmart’s Sam Walton, Build-A-Bear Workshop’s Maxine Clark, Gap Inc.’s Don Fisher, McDonald's Ray Kroc, Whole Foods Market’s John Mackey, L Brands’s Les Wexner, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, The Home Depot’s Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank and other brilliant retailers. Thank you, Marianne Wilson for this inspiring restrospective on the retail industry.

Read more: Retail Pioneers: 20 leaders that shaped the industry

Which global fast food chain has more locations?

Which would you say is the largest fast food chain in the world by number of locations?

(a) McDonald's
(b) Starbucks
(c) Subway
(d) Mixue Ice Cream & Tea

If you guessed McDonald’s, you’re not correct. Subway? Guess again. OK, how about Starbucks? Not exactly.

China’s Mixue is indeed the world’s largest chain, ending last year with 45,000 stores across Asia and Australia, and opportunities for expansion is everywhere you look.

The menu is short and very sweet. It includes the signature ice-cream cone, variations on bubble tea and a lemonade that has made Mixue, China’s biggest purchaser of lemons.

Its full name Mìxuě Bīngchéng (蜜雪冰城 ) can be loosely translated into "honey snow ice city.” The stores are adorned with its Snow King mascot, and at every store you visit, you’ll hear its jingle on a loop making you hum the song in your head for hours afterwards.

Mixue Ice Cream and Tea, pronounced ME-schway, became the world’s biggest food-and-beverage chain by number of locations in 2024, topping McDonald’s and Starbucks.

The company raised more than $400 million in an IPO of its shares in Hong Kong on Feb. 24, 2025. The shares rose nearly 30% in early trading, giving Mixue a valuation of more than $10 billion. Mixue generates most of its revenue from selling supplies to its franchisees.

Now that Mixue is a public company with substantial access to capital, will the chain expand to the U. S. and Europe? Time will tell. In its IPO filing, Mixue suggested that it intended to become more global, but didn’t mention plans to enter the U.S. Roughly 90% of its locations are in China, with the rest in 10 other Asian countries and Australia.

Read more: Forget McDonald’s. This Chinese Fast-Food Chain Is Now the World’s Biggest.

Red Robin joins other casual restaurant chains closing dozens of restaurants

Red Robin will shutter 70 underperforming locations over the next five years as it tries to find its way back to profitability.

The restaurant chain reported a net loss of $77.5 million in 2024 but the company-owned units targeted for closure were calculated to have caused a cash burn of only about $9.5 million.

Red Robin closed nine restaurants in 2024, eight of which were company-owned. Ten to 15 restaurants are expected to close in 2025. The chain finished the year with 498 units systemwide; 407 corporate units in 39 states and 91 franchises in 13 states. Over the past six fiscal years, the brand has opened only five restaurants per year.

Red Robin is among other casual restaurant chains that have been closing dozens of restaurants as the popularity has shifted from casual to fast-casual restaurants.

Fast casual restaurants typically offer a balance of fast service and higher quality food than fast food or quick service restaurants, also known as QSRs. Fast casual restaurants fall between fast food and casual dining. The meal is typically more expensive than fast food but less expensive than casual and fine dining.

One element of fast food and fast-casual dining that is different from casual and fine dining is the counter service where patrons go to the counter, order food and either pick up their meals from the counter or they are delivered to the table. The fast casual format saves on wait staff, also known as servers, and the tables usually turn much faster. Casual restaurants still rely on costly wait staff responsible for providing customer service, food and drink orders.

Some casual dining chains have had to reorganize under chapter 11 over the past year in order to stay afloat, such as TGI Fridays, Red Lobster, Buca di Beppo, Rubio's Coastal Grill and the entity that previously owned BurgerFi and Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., more commonly known as simply Red Robin, was founded in September 1969 in Seattle, Washington.

Read more: Red Robin to Close 70 Underperforming Restaurants (FSR Magazine)

Despite pressure from civic groups, Saks Global will shutter Neiman Marcus Dallas downtown flagship store

Retail is a supply and demand business. That is the concept behind why good malls lease to a critical mass of powerful retail tenants, which in turn attract customers to the mall.

Most downtown central businesses districts in the United States lost that critical mass of retailers in the 20th century, and that includes Downtown Dallas where civic and political leaders have been pressing Saks Global to keep the storied Neiman Marcus Group flagship store open just because that’s the way things have been for 111 years.

Well, guess what! The Times, They Are A-Changin'. Downtown retail has been on the decline in most American cities since the 1960s when Bob Dylan sang “Don't criticize what you can't understand.” And with that, retailers followed customers to the suburbs throughout the second half of the 20th century.

Why would anyone think it’s a surprise that Neiman’s would want to shutter its downtown Dallas store and transfer its declining sales to NorthPark Center, located just 7 miles north, when everyone knows the luxury customer doesn’t want to go downtown to shop?

Saks Global and presumably, NorthPark’s landlord, are together investing $100 million to renovate the Neiman Marcus store at NorthPark. They must know something the Dallas civic leaders don’t understand.

The Neiman NorthPark store will much better serve the luxury customer that also wants to shop at NorthPark’s other luxury retail tenants, such as BREITLING, Burberry, FERRAGAMO, GIVENCHY, Golden Goose, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Montblanc, Nordstrom, Prada Group, Saint Laurent, TAG Heuer, Tiffany & Co. and Versace.

Even if civic leaders could force Saks to keep the Neiman store open downtown, there is still no luxury co-tenancy there to draw customers like there is at NorthPark Center. I say, let it be.

Read more: Despite pleas of Dallas officials, Saks says it's moving to close Neiman Marcus flagship (CoStar News)

Revolve Group will convert its temporary REVOLVE shop at The Grove LA into a permanent store

REVOLVE, a publicly-traded fashion apparel brand that caters to Gen Z and millennials through mostly DTC online exposure opened a temporary store in November at The Grove LA for the 2024 holiday season.

The pop-up store in a dynamic location like The Grove attracted significant foot traffic and high-profile celebrities including Megan Fox, Cardi B, Shay Mitchell, Nicole Richie, Dwyane Wade and other famous Hollywood stars.

The temp location was such a hit with customers that the brand has signed a long-term lease with Caruso to open a permanent store location starting in the fall 2025. The 8,450-square-foot two-level space will feature curated collections from REVOLVE brands, including FWRD Renew.

REVOLVE has been doing pop-up stores for years including in Aspen, according to Michael Mente, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Revolve Group Inc., which has given the brand an ability to test customer reaction in a brick-and-mortar presence.