More U.S. tenants are opening stores this year than are closing them. U.S. retailers plan 522 store closures and 1,846 store openings for 2023, according to Coresight Research. Commerce + Communities Today’s look at 51 growing chains, public and private, highlights several trends: Sunbelt suburbs, food concepts and grocery stores that are both larger than normal and smaller than normal. Read on to see who’s growing, and email C+CT executive editor Brannon Boswell at bboswell@icsc.com with more tenants you know of who are growing.

New York self-serve frozen yogurt shop 16 Handles is taking on the East Coast. The company will open new locations in Boston; Jersey City, New Jersey; Englewood, Florida; and Naples, Florida; this spring under four new franchise agreements. 16 Handles operates 30 locations.

Academy Sports + Outdoors plans 16 openings this year and 80 to 100 over the next five years.

Aldi is growing its footprint in the Gulf Coast region. The discount grocer opened a regional headquarters and distribution center in Loxley, Alabama, related to 13 openings planned in the region through 2023. It’s the retailer’s 26th U.S. regional hub and the sixth to open in the southern U.S. Aldi operates 30 stores in the Gulf Coast area, 20 of which opened in 2022.

Canadian apparel chain Aritzia has set a goal of opening eight to 10 stores a year in the U.S. through 2027. Its U.S. net revenue grew 58% year over year last quarter. It has 47 U.S. stores.

WHP Global will open a Babies R Us at American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, this summer. WHP Global acquired Babies R Us in 2021 after the brand closed all stores, and WHP aims to return the brand to its former glory.

Home decor and furniture design company Ballard Designs this month opened its fourth Texas store. The 11,500 square-foot space at The Domain is Ballard’s 18 location nationwide and follows a Houston opening in 2021.

Barnes & Noble will open 30 stores in 2023, including two in Boston at former Amazon Books sites. The company has around 600 outlets across the country. The new stores’ independent bookstore-inspired design will encourage customers to linger.

Boot Barn plans 40 new stores this year, including expansions into New York, Connecticut and Maryland.

In November, off-price retailer Burlington said it plans to open 500 to 600 net new stores over the next five years as part of a long-term goal to reach 2,000. As of the end of the third quarter, Burlington had 893.

Convenience store operator Casey’s plans to add 350 locations over the next three years, not all with gas stations. The company currently operates 2,200 units.

Fast-casual chicken salad restaurant concept Chicken Salad Chick is growing in Texas. The brand just opened its first San Antonio unit, marking its 24th in the state. Another San Antonio unit will open this month. Chicken Salad Chick has 220 restaurants in 17 states and is starting to include drive-thrus.

Condado Tacos is expanding outside the Midwest, where it has 40 units. The fast-casual chain will open its first Alabama store, at Centennial’s Cahaba Village in Birmingham, this summer. It also recently opened in Charlotte, North Carolina; Lexington, Kentucky; Franklin, Tennessee; and Nashville, Tennessee.

Conn’s HomePlus continues to expand in Georgia with a 23,000-square-foot location in Fayetteville, which brings its number of stores to 168 across 15 states. Conn’s also opened in Jacksonville, Florida, in January, marking its 14th location in the state.

Costco plans to open 15 U.S. warehouse clubs in 2023, including in Queen Creek, Arizona; Kyle, Texas; Longmont, Colorado; and St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana.

Dollar General, which recently opened its 19,000th store, plans to open 1,050 more this year, as well as three distribution centers to support them.

Five Below plans to double its sales by tripling its store count to more than 3,500 by the end of 2030. Currently, Five Below has more than 1,200 stores across the country.

Floor & Decor, which operates 191 warehouse stores in 36 states, opened its sixth Arizona location last month, in Surprise.

By June, fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 will open at The Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta in Woodstock, Florida Keys Outlet Marketplace in Florida City and Outlets at Tejon in California, according to an October 2022 announcement.

Foxtrot has 24 locations across Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C., and plans expansion in both existing and new markets, including Austin, Texas, this fall. The company — a hybrid corner store, cafe and delivery market — opened its seventh unit in Washington, D.C., last week.

Gucci opened at Simon’s Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh. The Italian luxury chain also brought its Texas store count from seven to nine in January. Gucci has 108 U.S. stores, including a just-renovated location at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey.

Guitar Center opened its 300th store, a 15,000-square-foot location at Benderson Development’s Gateway Shoppes in Naples, Florida, last month. The company will open another Florida store, in Hialeah, in September.

Homesense opened in Newport News, Virginia, and Sarasota, Florida, in November and Lake Mary, Florida, last month. The newest retail banner of TJX Cos., it operates more than 40 stores in the U.S. and will open another on Feb. 23 at The Landing at Tradition in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Upscale lingerie brand Honey Birdette opened its second New Jersey mall store, at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus. It’s the company’s 11th store.

Over the next four years, Kohl’s plans to open 100 smaller-format stores with improved experiences for customers and associates. Kohl’s currently has 1,100 locations in 49 states. It also plans to expand the Sephora at Kohl’s store-within-a-store concept, which launched in 2021, to all Kohl’s locations, hitting 850 this year.

Lowes Foods will add five stores in the Carolinas this year: Concord, Kannapolis and Pittsboro in North Carolina and Indian Land and Aiken in South Carolina. It operates 81 full-service supermarkets.

McDonald’s plans to open 400 U.S. units in 2023. The fast-food operator wants to be able to serve more customers via digital, delivery and drive-thru channels and needs physical space to do so.

Midwest department store retailer Meijer opened two Meijer Grocery stores in the Detroit region. The new concept stocks daily staples within 75,000 to 90,000 square feet. That’s significantly smaller than the typical Meijer, which features toys, apparel, electronics, groceries and more. Meijer has 501 stores.

Upscale casual dining restaurant, bar and lounge Moxies will add a location in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this month and one each in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Boston later in the year. Moxies has rebranded and revamped its menu and has 60 units in Canada and two in the U.S. The company is looking for prime spots in urban areas and in suburbs.

Fast-casual restaurant franchisor Nick the Greek opened its 50th location — in Danville, California — this month. In 2023, it will open approximately 30 locations across the U.S., including in Phoenix; College Station, Texas; and Kansas City, Kansas. Nick the Greek serves souvlaki and gyros and currently operates throughout California, Nevada and Kansas.

Nordstrom Inc. will add six Nordstrom Rack discount stores this year to the 350 it already operates.

International clothing retailer Primark plans 10 new U.S. stores in 2023, which will nearly double its retail footprint in the country.

In June, Publix broke ground on its first Kentucky location, in Louisville, which is expected to deliver in the fourth quarter of 2023. In the meantime, the grocer has acquired properties for three more stores in the state. In the Charlotte, North Carolina, metro, where Publix already has 22 stores, it’s adding six more, ranging from 28,000 to 55,000 square feet.

Rally House will open three stores in Oklahoma in 2023, in Moore, Broken Arrow and Edmond. The sports team-based apparel retailer also will open in Ballwin, Missouri, and Ames, Iowa, this year. The company has about 140 stores in 14 states.

Outdoors gear retailer REI has three stores under development for 2023: two in California and one in New Hampshire. REI has 179 stores.

Ross Dress for Less plans to open its first Michigan store, in Southgate, just one of the 99 stores it plans for 2023. The company has 2,000 locations and wants to reach 2,900.

Rutter’s is opening 50 convenience stores across Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The company also is investing $150 million this year to remodel stores and add alcohol sales and video gaming terminals at some locations. Ranging from 10,000 to 12,000 square feet, the new and remodeled stores will include dine-in seating. Rutter’s has 84 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, and this move marks its entrance into Delaware and Virginia.

Quick-service chain Salad and Go wants to grow from 80 to 125 units by the end of the year. It has a strong focus on Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma and Nevada. Three locations will open this month in the Houston markets of Katy, Richmond and League City.

Sam’s Club plans to open 30 stores over the next “several years” and will build five fulfillment and distribution centers in 2023 to serve them. Sam’s Club confirmed the first of the new batch will open in Georgia in the third quarter. This is the first expansion in years for Sam’s, which shuttered 63 locations around the country in 2018. It operates about 600 stores across the U.S.

Showcase, the Canadian retailer that stocks merchandise based on social media trends, is growing in the U.S. The firm just opened its 40th and 41st U.S. stores, in New York state: in West Nyack’s Palisades Center and Huntington Station’s Walt Whitman Shops on Long Island. Showcase has 100 stores in Canada.

Smoothie King plans to open more than 100 locations in 2023, including 800-square-foot, drive-thru-only units. The quick-service chain opened 77 units in 2022, including in Albany, New York; Cleveland, Ohio; and Washington, D.C.

Sprouts Farmers Market opened a store in Nashville in January; is opening in Surprise, Arizona, today; and will open in Stockton, California, on March 10. Sprouts, which sells natural and organic foods, operates 380 stores in 23 states.

Tap 42 Craft Kitchen + Bar is slated to open this year at The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. It will be the 10th and largest Tap 42, at 8,000 square feet. All 10 are in Southern Florida. The restaurant is famous for its bottomless-drink brunches.

Target will open 30 larger stores and remodel 200 in 2023 based on a 150,000-square-foot prototype, which is more than 20,000 square feet larger than the chain’s average. These stores will feature a more open layout and backroom fulfillment space that’s five times larger than previous stores of similar size. This additional space will help support omnichannel growth. Stores fulfill more than 95% of the retailer’s digital orders and same-day services, accounting for more than 10% of its overall sales.

Apparel chain Tillys plans to open 15 stores this year, adding to its 250.

Yesterday, Trader Joe’s opened a store in Glastonbury, Connecticut, its ninth in the state. It also will open in Draper, Utah, this year. The grocer operates more than 500 locations around the country.

Electronic vehicle manufacturer VinFast is growing throughout California with new showrooms and service centers. The company will open two showrooms averaging 3,500 square feet in San Francisco and Santa Barbara later this year. It also has broken ground on service centers averaging 20,000 square feet that will open this year in San Francisco, San Mateo, West Covina, and Burbank.

Wegmans opened its 110th store, its 15th in Virginia, last week in Reston. The 85,000-square-foot store is in a mixed-use development near a rail station. Wegmans’ first Manhattan store, its second in New York City, will open in the second half of 2023. At 82,000 square feet, it will occupy space on the street and lower levels of a historic building. New Wegmans are under development in Rockville, Maryland; Yardley, Pennsylvania; Norwalk, Connecticut; Holly Springs, North Carolina; and Lake Grove, New York, on Long Island.

Wetzel’s Pretzels has almost 60 stores in its pipeline, including the 2023 opening of its 400th location. It will add more mall units, more units inside Macy’s and Walmart stores and more airport locations. It will also grow its food truck fleet and consider more off-mall sites. It expects its franchise units to grow at a pace that’s 50% faster than in 2022, which already was a banner year for the company. Wetzel’s has 370 units.

Whole Foods wants to open 30 stores a year, up from the 11 it opened in 2022. It’s looking at new store sizes and shapes, according to its CEO. The grocer operates 534 locations and already this year has opened in Bozeman, Montana, and New York City’s Financial District.

Convenience store chain Yesway raised $190 million in equity in the second half of 2022 to build 28 stores in 2023. Throughout 2022, it completed the construction of 17 stores and 21 raze-and-rebuild projects. It operates 428 stores under two banners: Yesway and Allsup’s.