Store closures are on the decline

U.S. store closures have declined year over year for the first time in 2021, according to Coresight Research. Retailers have shuttered 4,626 stores this year, according to the firm. That’s 5.7% fewer than by this same time in 2020. Women’s apparel chain Christopher and Banks has closed the most of any retailer. It closed all 450 of its stores after filing for bankruptcy protection in January. Francesca’s accounted for the second-biggest chunk after filing for bankruptcy protection in December.

Retailers have opened 4,311 new stores in the U.S. to date, a 41.8% increase over the same period in 2020. Dollar stores like Dollar Tree and Five Below, account for more than a quarter of those. Dollar General leads that group, with 1,035 new stores this year. Dollar Tree is a distant second place with 393 openings.

Burlington, Charming Charlie, Nike, Old Navy, Payless, Ross Dress for Less, Target, Tractor Supply and Ulta Beauty are among the retailers expanding their physical footprints this year, Coresight reports.

7 chains expanding to the U.S.

• Canadian vegan restaurant chain Odd Burger will open its first U.S. location in New York City, followed by 20 restaurants across North America over the next year.

• Japanese coffee chain %Arabica opened in Brooklyn in June and plans to grow to San Francisco and Portland, Oregon.

• Beverage chain Phuc Long operates 80 units in Vietnam and is brewing up its first U.S. location — in Garden Grove, California — next month.

• Norwegian dart lounge concept Oche will launch its first U.S. unit in July, in Miami Beach’s South of Fifth. The 12,000-square-foot concept features 13 dart booths where patrons play 85-minute games while dining on European, Asian and Latin American cuisine. The dart lounge debuted in Oslo in 2018 and expanded to Amsterdam and Brisbane, Australia.

• British minigolf operator Swingers Crazy Golf is teeing up its first U.S. location, for Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle.

• British jewelry brand Vashi, whose first U.S. flagship will take an 11,777-square-foot, street-level space at SL Green Corp.’s SoHo Building.

• Little Kitchen Academy, a Montessori-inspired cooking academy for children ages 3 through teens will open its first U.S. location Aug. 16, in Los Angeles’ Westfield Century City. It will be the fourth location, following two franchises opening this month in Canada. The brand aims to open 423 locations worldwide by the end of 2025.

Locally owned supermarkets are gaining on their corporate rivals

Independent grocers now account for 33% of U.S. grocery sales, up from 25% nearly a decade ago, according to the National Grocers Association. Sales by the independent supermarket sector, which now numbers 21,574 stores, rose from $131 billion in 2012 to $253.61 billion in 2020. That’s an almost 94% increase while total U.S. grocery store sales climbed just 47%, from $524 billion to $772 billion.

Apple opens in an old L.A. theater

An old movie theater becomes a theater plus much more

Experiential entertainment concept EVO is taking over a 68,733-square-foot, former movie theater at Texas’ Southlake Town Square. The concept includes seven luxury dine-in theaters with recliner seating, a kitchen and craft bar with outdoor patio space, bowling lanes, more than 12,000 square feet of video and redemption arcade games, an indoor ropes course and rock wall, bumper cars, laser tag, virtual reality and private event space. The location will open in December, bringing EVO’s locations to eight across Texas.

Psycho Bunny takes advantage of others’ closures

Men’s sportswear brand Psycho Bunny, which opened its first store at Florida’s Aventura Mall in 2018, plans to nearly triple its store count by adding more than 15 this year. “We did see some additional opportunities as a result of some legacy retailers either rationalizing their portfolio or downsizing their footprint,” COO Kenny Minzberg told Adweek.

Scheels brings its sporting goods experience to former Arizona department store

Sporting goods retailer Scheels will open its first Arizona store at Macerich’s Chandler Fashion Center in suburban Phoenix. The two-level, 222,000 square-foot store is slated to open in fall 2023 within the former Nordstrom, which closed during the pandemic. The store will feature a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium, a wildlife mountain, a Fuzziwig’s Candy Factory outpost and a restaurant. Scheels operates 29 stores in 13 states.

Marco’s Pizza takes on Denver

Marco’s Pizza aims to grow its footprint of over 1,000 locations by more than 10% this year. It has signed more than 90 franchise agreements this year and has 200 stores under development. The company is blanketing the Denver market with 20 new locations by the end of 2024, thanks to two franchising deals.

Allbirds aims for an IPO

Direct-to-consumer shoe brand Allbirds plans to file an IPO as soon as September that values the company at $2 billion. The company opened its first physical store in 2018 and now has 23.

New owners for Au Bon Pain and Fuddruckers

Pizza Hut and 7-Eleven franchisee Ampex Brands teamed with Yum to buy 117-unit bakery chain Au Bon Pain from Panera subsidiary ABP Corp. The new owners plan to grow the brand’s corporate-owned locations into new markets in the U.S. and other countries. Nicholas Perkins has become the first Black person with full ownership of a U.S. burger franchise when he purchased Fuddruckers from conglomerate Luby’s for $18.5 million. His Black Titan Franchise Systems was the 85-unit chain’s largest franchisee. Now, as master owner of the franchise system nationwide, Black Titan will stabilize the company, reposition the brand and develop a growth strategy.