Southeastern Grocers
Published reports indicate that Southeastern Grocers has confirmed it is planning to close up to 20 stores across its footprint, and will layoff an unspecified number of store-level managers. The closures are said to be part of a portfolio review and include some cases of lease expirations, as well as the impact of competitor openings/renovations.
Regarding the changes in management structure, a representative commented, "We're going through a limited number of changes to certain roles and responsibilities in our stores. We are working hard to improve and create an efficient and effective store experience for our customers and our teams. These changes are designed to allow us to provide additional hours in those stores to serve our customers better, and will be rolling-out over the next few weeks."
According to local reports, specific store closures announced to date include three Winn-Dixie stores in south Louisiana (New Orleans, Lafayette and Slidell), and it was announced Shoppers Value was taking over two Winn-Dixie stores located in Baton Rouge and Walker that flooded in August and had not reopened. Meanwhile, Winn-Dixie is still working to reopen its store in New Orleans East that was damaged by a tornado in February. As of March 1, Winn-Dixie had 47 stores in Louisiana. Winn-Dixie plans to close six other locations in Alabama (one), Georgia (one), Florida (two), and Mississippi (two). The Company also plans to close six BI-LO locations in North Carolina (two) and South Carolina (four) and one Harveys in Georgia. Following the store closures, the Company will operate approximately 710 stores.
Click here for Southeastern Grocers' full Winn Dixie store list.
Gymboree
The Gymboree Corporation is reportedly looking to close 350 of its 1,291 stores as part of a possible formal restructuring, which could occur as soon as this week. Additionally, discussions around the number of store closures are still ongoing and could change. During the latest quarter ending January 28, Gymboree reported sales decreased 6.4%, driven by a decline in comps of 5% and 15 net store closures. Due to increased markdowns of excess inventory, EBITDA fell 42%, after excluding a non-cash impairment charge of intangible assets of $368.1 million in the Gymboree and Crazy 8 brands. At quarter end, Gymboree had $22.1 million in cash along with $73.0 million of restricted cash and only $68.0 million of availability under its $225.0 million ABL revolver. The Company has reportedly been in discussions with its lenders over possibly refinancing some or all of its $1.04 billion debt load. It should be noted that approximately $871.9 million of the debt is due within 12 months.
Click here for Gymboree's full store list.
Hudson's Bay/Neiman Marcus
According to a published report, merger discussions between Neiman Marcus and Saks owner Hudson’s Bay Company have stalled, as Neiman Marcus faces a potential lawsuit from its term loan lenders and bondholders. The report claims the lawsuit involves Neiman Marcus’ decision to move three of its stores (in San Antonio and Longview, TX and McLean, VA) into a subsidiary that protects them from creditors in the event of a bankruptcy. In March, following a disappointing second quarter and its previous withdrawal of its IPO, Neiman Marcus announced that it was exploring and evaluating potential strategic alternatives, including the sale of the Company or other assets, or other initiatives to optimize its capital structure.
Click links above for full store lists.
Smart & Final
Smart & Final reported first quarter sales growth of 6.4% to $967.0 million, driven by sales from new stores, partially offset by a 2.5% decrease in comps. The decrease in comps was attributable to a 0.4% decrease in comp transaction count, including the effect of cannibalization from new stores, and a 2.1% decrease in comp average transaction size, including the impact of deflation in key product categories in both store banners. Sales were up 7.8% to $765.0 million at the Smart & Final banner and were up 1.5% at the Cash & Carry banner. The Company posted a net loss of $4.6 million, compared to a net loss of $1.6 million last year. The current year net loss adjusted for store development expenses and income tax benefit was $1.5 million, compared to adjusted net income of $6.6 million in 2016.
During the first quarter, the Company opened two new Smart & Final Extra! stores and one new Cash & Carry store. As of March 26, it operated a total of 308 stores, including 174 Smart & Final Extra! stores, 74 legacy Smart & Final stores and 60 Cash & Carry stores.
Smart & Final maintained its guidance for fiscal 2017, which includes sales growth of 5.5% – 6.5%, comp growth of 1% – 2%, and adjusted EBITDA of $185.0 million – $195.0 million. Capital expenditures are expected to be $120.0 million – $130.0 million; the Company plans to open 15 Smart & Final Extra! stores and four Cash & Carry stores.
Click here for Smart & Final's full store list.
Dick's Sporting Goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods announced the opening of 36 new Golf Galaxy stores located in 16 different states. The new locations were formerly Golfsmith properties acquired by Dick’s and converted to the Golf Galaxy banner, bringing Golf Galaxy’s footprint to 98 locations across 33 states. The Company expects these locations to be accretive to earnings during the first year of operation.
Click here for Dick's Sporting Goods' full store list.
Sprouts Farmers Market
Sprouts reported first quarter sales growth of 13.8% to $1.13 billion, driven by a 1.1% increase in comps and strong performance in new stores opened. Net income was flat over last year at $46.3 million. During the quarter, Sprouts opened 8 new stores: one each in Arizona, Florida, Kansas and North Carolina and two each in California and Georgia. Seven additional stores have been opened in the second quarter to date, resulting in a total of 268 stores in 15 states as of May 4, 2017. Looking ahead at fiscal 2017, the Company raised its sales growth guidance to 12.5% – 13.5%, up from 12% – 13% previously. It expects capex of $155.0 million – $165.0 million, and plans to open 32 new stores.
Click here for Sprouts Farmers Market's full store list.
Staples
Published reports indicated Cerberus Capital Management and Sycamore Partners are actively exploring an acquisition of Staples. Dissatisfied shareholders are looking for a quick exit plan, as the Company’s share price has dropped nearly 50% since the beginning of 2015. Staples has been in talks with multiple private-equity firms over the last several weeks about a potential deal, and the reports say other prospective buyers have become discouraged by the challenges Staples faces in shifting its business model from serving consumers to catering to companies. According to the reports, Clayton Dublilier & Rice, Advent International Corp and Bain Capital are among the other private-equity firms that are now less actively pursuing a deal. While Staples has sufficient cash flow to support a leveraged buyout, it still carries the cost burden of 1,255 stores in the U.S. and 304 stores in Canada. The Company recently announced plans to sell roughly 60 stores in North America. Last year, Cerberus acquired a majority stake of Staples’ European business for €50.0 million (US$53.65 million).
In other news, Staples appointed Brett Wahlin as chief information security officer (CISO), responsible for global enterprise-wide information, product and data security. Mr. Wahlin previously served as VP and CISO at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.
Click here for Staples' full store list.
SRS Distribution
Last week, SRS Distribution acquired family-owned regional distributor Kohl Building Products. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kohl Building Products operates facilities in Reading, Selinsgrove, Mechanicsburg, Stroudsburg, Johnstown, Bloomsburg and York, PA, and operates a yard in Frederick, MD. Kohl will continue under its current name and staff, operating as a subsidiary. SRS, owned by Berkshire Partners, is a roofing distribution holding company with 181 locations in 41 states.
Click here for SRS Distribution's full location list.
Natural Grocers
Natural Grocers’ second quarter sales rose 8.3% to $192.2 million, primarily due to a $17.8 million increase in new store revenue, offset by a 1.7% decrease in comps. The comp decline was driven by a 1.4% decrease in average transaction count and a 0.4% decrease in average transaction size. Net income was down 16.2% to $3.0 million. For the first half of the year sales rose 8.9% to $375.8 million, comps fell 1.2% and net income declined 31% to $5.1 million. During the first half of 2017, the Company opened nine new stores, including four in the second quarter.
Natural Grocers narrowed its fiscal 2017 outlook, and now expects comp growth of -1% to 1%, EPS of $0.50 – $0.54 and capex of $40.0 million – $44.0 million. It revised its expectations for new store openings to 15 – 17 new stores from the previous forecast of 15 – 20 new stores. Management currently has six stores scheduled to open during the second half.
Click here for Natural Grocers' full store list.
Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies reported flat first quarter sales growth to C$10.40 billion. Retail segment sales were also flat at C$10.17 billion. Excluding the consolidation of franchises, retail segment sales decreased by C$65.0 million, driven by food retail same-store sales decline of 2.1%, which negatively impacted by the timing of New Year’s Day and Easter holidays; and a decline in the Company’s food price index. Drug retail same-store sales were up 0.9% and were comprised of pharmacy comp growth of 1.3% and front-end comp growth of 0.6%. Net income was up 18.9% to $233.0 million. The latest quarter included a charge of C$134.0 million, while the year-ago quarter included a charge of C$145.0 million, primarily related to the acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart.
During the quarter the Company opened eight food and drug stores and closed 29.
Subsequent to the end of the first quarter, the Company entered into an agreement with Brookfield Business Partners L.P. to sell its gas bar operations for approximately $540.0 million. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017.
Click here for Loblaw's full store list.
Wegmans
Wegmans has proposed a new store for a shopping center in Middletown, NJ. The Company has seven locations in New Jersey and is opening two more this year. Stores are generally between 110,000 and 130, 000 square feet. There are three competing food retail stores within three miles of the proposed store, including a Foodtown, Stop & Shop (right across the street) and Whole Foods Market.
Click here for Wegmans' full store list.
ABC Supply
Yesterday, ABC Supply opened its fifth location in Washington, in Vancouver, and its ninth in Colorado, in Colorado Springs. The Company currently operates over 700 locations nationwide.
Click here for ABC Supply's full store list.
Express
Express announced that it will close its 17 stores in Canada and discontinue its Canadian operations through its subsidiary, Express Fashion Apparel Canada, Inc. The Company is seeking the appointment of Alvarez & Marsal Canada to oversee the liquidation and wind-down process for Express Canada. Express expects this to negatively impact pre-tax profit in the range of $28.0 million – $34.0 million for fiscal 2017 ($6.0 million in the first quarter and $22.0 million – $28.0 million in the second quarter), driven primarily by the write-down of its investment in Express Canada along with costs associated with the exit. For the fiscal year ended January 28, Express Canada had sales of approximately $34.0 million (1.6% of sales) and posted a net loss of about $6.0 million. Following the closures, Express will continue to operate 635 stores in the U.S. The Company plans to release first quarter fiscal 2017 results on June 1.
Click here for Express' full store list.
Big Y Foods
Big Y Foods announced last week that it has completed $13.0 million in renovations at three Hampshire County stores. The stores are located in Amherst, Northampton and Hadley, MA. The Company also announced $3.1 million in completed renovations at two Connecticut stores located in Norwich and Monroe.
Click here for Big Y Foods' full store list.
The Buckle
The Buckle’s April sales decreased 4% to $62.6 million, and comps were down 3.5%. First quarter sales dropped 12.8% to $213.3 million, and comps were down 12.7%. Sales for the month and quarter were impacted by the Company’s closing of six stores during fiscal 2016 and five stores during the first quarter of fiscal 2017. The Company will announce first quarter earnings on May 18.
Click here for The Buckle's full store list.
ALDI
ALDI plans to open a 20,000 square-foot store in Baldwinsville, NY this summer. The Company operates 10 stores in central New York with its closest locations to the new store in Clay (9 miles) and Liverpool (7 miles). No opening date has been set.
Click here for ALDI's full store list.
Cinemark Holdings
Cinemark Holdings reported first quarter sales jumped 10.6% to $779.6 million. Admissions revenues increased 9.3% and concession revenues were up 12.8%. Attendance increased 2.5%, the average ticket price rose 6.7% to $6.41, and concession revenues per patron increased 10.1% to $3.61. Profit jumped 36.2% to $79.7 million. CEO Mark Zoradi commented, “I am delighted to report another record-breaking quarter for Cinemark’s worldwide operations. This marks our 4th consecutive year of first-quarter records. We were able to leverage the strength in our attendance of nearly 75 million guests to generate first-quarter records in total revenues, net income, Adjusted EBITDA and EPS. We are thrilled to have kicked-off the year on such a high note and remain enthusiastic about the upcoming film slate, as well as the execution of our strategic initiatives.” As of March 31, Cinemark operated 525 theatres with 5,894 screens and had commitments to open seven new theatres with 63 screens during the remainder of 2017, as well as an additional 12 new theatres with 106 screens subsequent to 2017.
Click here for Cinemark Holdings' full location list.
Hy-Vee
Hy-Vee has submitted a lone bid for a 1.85 acre site in Bloomington, MN. The site has been vacant for a decade. Hy-Vee has reportedly proposed a small format store and fuel pump for the site, but details are very preliminary. Hy-Vee operates 22 stores in Minnesota. It is a relatively recent entrant to the Twin Cities market. The Company embarked on an aggressive push to expand into the area in 2015.
Click here for Hy-Vee's full store list.
Famous Dave's of America
Famous Dave’s of America said it will sell its remaining Company-owned restaurants to franchisees over the next two years. The Company currently owns 33 locations while franchisees own another 135. CEO Mike Lister commented, “Converting restaurant ownership and operations fully to franchisees will enable our team to focus our efforts on food and beverage innovation, marketing, franchise operations, training, and development.”
Click here for Famous Dave's full store list.
Party City
Party City reported first quarter sales of $477.0 million, up 4.2% from the prior-year period and reflecting a 1.7% comp increase. Net loss widened to $4.7 million, from a loss of $394,000 a year earlier. The 2017 first quarter included $9.2 million in one-time restructuring, retention, severance and store-closing expenses. During the quarter, the Company opened two new stores, acquired 36 franchise stores and closed four stores, ending with 930 locations. CEO James M. Harrison commented, “2017 is off to a solid start with first quarter results that were in line with our expectations. A compelling assortment, good in-store execution and strong holiday performance were all positive contributors in our retail business. In our consumer products business, we realized over 17% growth internationally in constant currency, driven by category growth and continued channel expansion throughout the U.K., continental Europe and Australia.”
For fiscal 2017, the Company expects total sales of $2.35 billion – $2.45 billion, comp growth of 1% – 1.5%, and adjusted net income of $148.0 million – $158.0 million.
Click here for Party City's full store list.
AMC Entertainment
AMC Entertainment reported a first quarter sales increase of 67.5% to a record-setting $1.28 billion. Admissions revenues jumped 69.4% to $817.3 million, and food and beverage revenues increased 63% to $397.9 million. Nonetheless, quarterly profit dropped more than 70% to $8.4 million. Included in 1Q17 and 1Q16 profit were approximately $26.2 million and $3.9 million, respectively, of after-tax merger and acquisition expenses associated with prior acquisitions. Excluding these expenses in both years, net earnings rose 7.5% to $34.6 million. 1Q17 results include the contribution from two acquisitions completed during 4Q16 and one completed in the last week of 1Q17; the acquisition of Odeon and Carmike were completed on November 30, 2016 and December 21, 2016, respectively, and the acquisition of Nordic Cinema Group Holding AB was completed on March 28, 2017. CEO and President Adam Aron commented, “We would particularly point out three important developments at AMC so far this year. First, at the legacy pre-acquisition AMC theatres, we grew revenues at a meaningfully faster pace than the industry at large, due in part to our commitment to renovating theatres and the strength of our impactful marketing programs. Second, with our domestic acquisition, our rapid move to achieve cost synergies and efficiencies brought immediate bottom line benefit, offsetting revenue weakness that had been prevalent at Carmike for eight of the twelve months and three of the last four months of 2016. We are directly focused on improving revenues at the acquired domestic theatres, as well as furthering the cost reduction efforts that already are well in hand. And third, we are thrilled both by our brisk start in driving immediate revenue and earnings growth in constant currency in Europe, and the likelihood that our plans to drive even more earnings through renovation of European theatres will come to initial fruition in quantity as early as the end of 2018.”
Click here for AMC Entertainment's full location list.
Future Retail Store Closings
AggData monitors upcoming retail store closings throughout the day and maintains an active database of store locations and anticipated closing dates. Here is a sample of recently announced store closings.
Please contact AggData to request a full future store closing list.
Walmart
Walmart began offering click-and-collect grocery shopping at two stores in Niagara County located in Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda, NY.
Walmart announced it plans to invest more than $500.0 million in building 50 new stores in India over the next three to five years, more than doubling its number of physical stores in the country to 71. The Walmart-branded stores will be operated by Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s larger mobile carriers, to avoid regulatory restrictions on foreign retailers, while Walmart will provide logistics, inventory, and payments support.
Walmart recently filed for a patent that could be used for the development of a device that tracks how shoppers use products in their homes and then electronically reorders merchandise, similar to Amazon’s Dash button. Walmart’s proposed device relies on IoT tags, which could be comprised of Bluetooth, radio frequency identification (RFID), infrared, or near-field communications (NFC), among other technology options. Besides monitoring product usage, this smart tag would be programmed to automatically re-order merchandise, as well as track expiration dates and product recalls, according to the patent filing, called “Retail subscription in Internet of Things environment.”
Walmart was also recently granted a patent that would allow it to use drones to shuttle merchandise between departments and dedicated delivery locations within its stores.
Click here for Walmart's full store list.
Tuesday Morning
Tuesday Morning’s third quarter sales decreased 4% to $203.0 million, and comps were down 2.7%. The sales decline was attributed to lower-than-planned store-level inventories due to challenges in the Company’s supply chain operations as well as 24 fewer stores. Customer transactions decreased 0.7%, and the average ticket declined 2%. Net loss widened 182.4% to $14.8 million. CEO Steve Becker said, “Our third quarter comparable sales performance largely reflected decreased inventory levels in certain core categories in January and February as well as a late seasonal set. As our inventory filled in, we saw improvement during the quarter and we have experienced positive comparable store sales growth in March and April. We have now turned our attention to consistent improvement in our supply chain with a focus on driving our costs down. While we have already made progress, we have considerable work to do and efficiencies to be gained.” During the quarter, seven stores were relocated, seven were opened, two were expanded, and 23 were closed. The Company ended with 724 stores in operation.
Click here for Tuesday Morning's full store list.
Amazon
With competition heating up from Walmart, beginning May 8, Amazon will once again lower the minimum order size for non-Prime members to qualify for free shipping to $25. In February, Amazon slashed the free shipping order size to $35 from $49 for non-Prime members.
Meanwhile, the Company announced plans for its newest Amazon Books location, which will be located in a 10,000 square-foot space in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. It will be Amazon’s 13th bookstore. The Amazon Books banner now operates six locations in Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Portland, OR, and in Dedham and Lynnfield, MA. Additional locations planned to open this year include Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ; Shops at Columbus Circle, NYC; and two stores in the greater Boston area.
