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Bob’s, Marco’s and Harps Will Add 600 Stores
Meta Doubles Down on Physical Retail With NYC Flagship
CBL Secures $601M Refinancing Package
Health Care System Acquires L.A. Shopping Center for $270M
North Point Mall Redevelopment Near Atlanta Plans 1M SF of Retail and NHL-Ready Arena
Dallas Mixed-Use Pioneer Henry Miller III Has Died
Bob’s, Marco’s and Harps Will Add 600 Stores
Bob’s Discount Furniture, Marco’s Pizza and the Harps grocery chain are growing.
Fresh Off IPO, Bob’s Discount Furniture Targets 500+ Stores by 2035
Bob’s Discount Furniture, which went public last month in a nearly $300.7 million initial public offering, has laid out an ambitious plan to roughly double its footprint. During the retailer’s first post-IPO earnings call, president and CEO Bill Barton said about 20 new stores are scheduled to open in 2026 as Bob’s heads down a “clear and actionable path” to a store count of more than 500 by 2035. As of Dec. 28, the end of its 2025 fiscal year, Bob’s operated 209 stores in 26 states.
Bob’s Discount Furniture operated 209 stores as of Dec. 28. Photo above and at top: JHVEPhoto - stock.adobe.com
Marco’s Pizza Builds on Momentum With 80+ Planned Openings
Quick-service chain Marco’s Pizza plans to open more than 80 restaurants this year after adding more than 60 in 2025. Marco’s operates over 1,200 stores in 35 states, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Mexico. The 140-plus new stores for 2025 and 2026 represent a growth rate of 12%. In 2023, Marco’s identified 4,200 potential locations in the U.S. Among the top five pizza chains based on U.S. sales and number of restaurants, Marco’s store count grew the most, nearly 41%, from 2017 to 2024, according to PMQ Pizza.
Marco’s Pizza is on track for a roughly 30% increase in its store count over the course of two years. Photo courtesy of Marco’s Pizza/PR Newswire
Harps Grocery Chain Expands Small-Town Footprint With 18-Store Acquisition
Here’s a grocery chain to put on your radar: Harps. On the heels of other recent acquisitions, Harps has agreed to buy the Dyer Foods grocery chain, a deal that aligns with its small-store, small-town strategy. Dyer has 17 locations in Tennessee and one in Kentucky, according to The Shelby Report. The Dyer deal will bring Harps’ store count to 178 in eight states.
Harps’ latest acquisition will push its store count to nearly 180. Photo courtesy of Harps
Harps has grown steadily in recent years. It purchased Oklahoma’s 10-location Doc’s Food Stores chain in 2025, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported, as well as two independent grocery stores in Arkansas, according to The Shelby Report. In 2022, it bought The Markets grocery chain, with seven locations in Louisiana and Mississippi, Arkansas’ News5 reported. And in 2020, Harps acquired the 20-store Town and Country Grocers chain in Arkansas and Missouri, Grocery Dive reported.
Meta Doubles Down on Physical Retail With NYC Flagship
Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, among other platforms — is opening its second flagship store in the U.S. Following last year’s debut of Meta Lab, in Los Angeles, Meta is planting a second flagship in New York City that will occupy all 15,000 square feet of a townhouse adjacent to Manhattan’s St. Regis New York hotel. Meta opened a 5,000-square-foot pop-up at the same Fifth Avenue address last year. Meta signed a 10-year lease with Vornado for the new experiential store, where the company’s AI glasses and virtual reality headsets will be the main attractions.
The Meta Lab pop-up opened on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan in 2025. Photo credit: Marcus Jones - stock.adobe.com
CBL Secures $601M Refinancing Package
CBL, which owns 88 retail properties, has refinanced a $634 million term loan through two new loans that mature in 2031 and total $601 million. The REIT closed on a $425 million nonrecourse loan at a fixed rate of 7.4% secured by 12 malls and one open-air lifestyle center. And CBL expects to close soon on a $176 million floating-rate, interest-only loan secured by four open-air lifestyle centers. The $634 million loan was set to mature in November 2027. CBL said that by refinancing ahead of the maturity date, it will reduce debt by $33 million and should gain more than $30 million in annual free cash flow.
Mall del Norte in Laredo, Texas, is among the 13 properties serving as collateral for a $425 million loan CBL has just closed. Photo courtesy of CBL
The refinancing does not include CBL’s Northgate Mall in suburban Chattanooga, Tennessee, leaving it free for redevelopment.
Health Care System Acquires L.A. Shopping Center for $270M
Just weeks after an East Coast health care system agreed to acquire a shopping center in New York City, a West Coast health care system has done the same. The Cedars-Sinai Health System purchased the 340,000-square-foot Beverly Connection shopping center in Los Angeles for $270 million from real estate investment firm Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., Los Angeles magazine reported. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sits near Beverly Connection and the 833,000-square-foot Beverly Center. Cedars-Sinai said the roughly 10-acre site can accommodate growth into the next century. For the time being, retailers and other tenants will keep doing business at Beverly Connection, according to Cedars-Sinai.
About 2,500 miles away in New York City, the Northwell Health system recently agreed to purchase the vacant 338,000-square-foot Rego Park I retail center in Queens for $235.5 million in anticipation of expansion.
North Point Mall Redevelopment Near Atlanta Plans 1M SF of Retail and NHL-Ready Arena
Fresh details have emerged about a planned mixed-use development near Atlanta that aims to land an NHL franchise. The 1.4 million-square-foot North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Georgia, would be demolished to accommodate a nearly 100-acre mixed-use project anchored by a 20,000-seat NHL-ready arena. Other newly revealed components include 907,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 1,385 apartments, three hotels, 750,000 square feet of office, a 45,000-square-foot conference center, a 4,000-seat performing arts center, a 500-seat movie theater and more than 16 acres of parks, plazas and trails. New York Life owns the site, and developer Jamestown and adviser Machete Group are overseeing the project.
A mixed-use project would replace the 1.4 million-square-foot North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Georgia. Rendering courtesy of Jamestown
The North Point development would compete with a nearby project for an NHL team. Krause Sports and Entertainment’s proposed 100-acre Gathering at South Forsyth would feature an 18,500-square-foot NHL-ready arena, 1.6 million square feet of retail and office, 2,400 residential units and a hotel.
Dallas Mixed-Use Pioneer Henry Miller III Has Died
Henry Miller III, who helped pioneer mixed-use development in Dallas, died on Feb. 28 at age 79. He was the retired CEO of commercial real estate firm Henry S. Miller, which his paternal grandfather, Henry Miller Sr., founded in 1914, according to the Dallas Business Journal. Among the firm’s notable projects are West Village, developed with Urban Partners as Dallas’ first major urban, retail-anchored mixed-use project; Highland Park Village, a popular retail and dining hub that dates back to 1931; and Preston Royal, developed in partnership with Trammell Crow Co. in 1958.
Henry S. Miller co-developed Dallas’ West Village, a mixed-use property that opened in 2001. Photo courtesy of CBRE
By John Egan
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today