Giant opens new, improved store in Feasterville

Earlier this month Giant Food opened its new Feasterville, PA location. The new store is 66,000 square feet, approximately 25 percent larger than the store down the street that closed a day before the new Giant opened.

The new location includes an expanded fresh produce department with more organic selections, fresh-squeezed juices, in-store cut fruit, and a full salad bar. It also features a Beer & Wine Eatery with over 400 types of beer available. According to a news release, Giant is partnering with 13 local breweries from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all of which are featured in the store.

In addition, the new Giant includes a full-service pharmacy with pharmacists available seven days a week, and a Starbucks-on-the-Go kiosk.

Giant currently has 171 stores in four states.

Acme to open new store in South Philly property formerly occupied by ShopRite

Acme Markets and The Goldenberg Group announced today that the former ShopRite in South Philadelphia's Snyder Plaza Shopping Center would be renovated and opened as a new Acme supermarket in 2017. The Goldenberg Group owns the property.

The 54,415 square foot store is slated to have a beer and wine shop, and a Starbucks café. In addition, the store's exterior will receive an updated façade and new points of entry. Improvements are planned for other parts of the shopping center as well.

Earlier this year ShopRite relocated to a bigger store on Oregon Avenue that was formerly occupied by Pathmark.

Whole Foods hoping to boost sales with coupons and loyalty program

With traffic and sales falling at Whole Foods due to competition from food retailers selling natural and organic products at lower prices, the company has started to offer discounts and began rolling out a customer loyalty program.

The discounts come in the form of digital coupons available on the Whole Foods mobile app, and company officials says the adoption rate so far has been very high. The loyalty program, launched initially in Dallas and here in Philadelphia, provide member-only deals like 10% off purchases and rewards points that lead to free products.  The program is set to roll out nationwide in 2017.

Whole Foods is hoping to achieve results similar to what Starbucks experienced when they introduced a loyalty program in 2009. Starbucks now has more than 12 million users and more than $1 billion in prepaid value. The program is cited as a major reason that Starbucks has been able to grow same-store sales year after year.

Brookhaven, PA to welcome ShopRite and Giant in 2016

The shopping center known as 352 Plaza in Brookhaven, PA had two doomed tenants - Pathmark and K-Mart-  but will soon come to life with a Lowe's (under construction) and a planned ShopRite. The grocery store could open by March 2016 and will feature an outdoor cafe, beer sales, and a hot and cold food buffet. It will extend beyond the original Pathmark footprint and into the closed Chinese buffet space.

Across the street, groundbreaking took place last week for The Shoppes at Brookhaven, a development by Retail Sites that will include Giant, LA Fitness, Starbucks, Smashburger, Pet Valu and a PA Wine & Spirits store, among others. The targeted opening date is December 2016.

Wegmans anchors "service center" in Glen Mills, PA

Wegmans' 88th store opened a couple weeks ago in Glen Mills, PA, in a center focusing on service, according to Peter Miller of Carlino Commercial Development.

"There is a lot of food, medical, grocery, restaurant, and some service with banking and an AT&T, and fewer soft goods retailers," said Miller. "This is what this center is about, not fashion."

The 111,000 square foot store has a full-service restaurant and bar, and a marketplace offering natural and organic foods.

Tenants planned for the center, known as Brandywine Mills, include MOD Pizza, Heartland Dental, Sally Beauty, Zoe's Kitchen, Starbucks, Hair Cuttery, Vitamin Shoppe, a Sleep Number Bed Store, Petco, a credit union and a children's hospital satellite location. 

ShopRite to open in Bethlehem Township later this month

A ShopRite-anchored mixed-use development is nearing completion in Bethlehem Township. Developers of the project, known as Madison Farms, are now leasing luxury apartments, and both ShopRite and Starbucks plan to open in the next few weeks.

Other retailers planned for the project include Supercuts, Subway, Elements Massage, Heartland Dental, Pet Valu, Provident Bank and Verizon Wireless.

Once completed, Madison Farms is expected to have 837 luxury residences.

Wegmans leads supermarkets on Best Companies to Work For list

Four supermarket retailers were named to the annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list published last week by Fortune Magazine. Wegmans ranked fourth on the list, followed by Whole Foods Market at #32, Nugget Market (CA) at #34, and Publix Super Markets at #78.

Google topped the list, which also included retailers REI (#8), Zappos (#10), The Container Store (#22), Men's Wearhouse (#55), Nordstrom (#61), Starbucks (#73) and CarMax (#91).

Starbucks is now the No. 3 U.S. restaurant chain

MSNBC reported today that Starbucks has surpassed Burger King and Wendy's to become the third largest restaurant chain in the U.S., based on domestic sales. McDonald's and Subway are first and second, respectively.

Full disclosure: Equity Retail Brokers represents Starbucks in the Greater Philadelphia market, but there is no direct evidence (just rumors) that this relationship is solely responsible for Starbucks' sales increase or its rise in the restaurant chain rankings.

Starbucks is now No. 3 U.S. restaurant chain