AroundtheIndustry

Grocers

Dollar General

Dollar General plans to open 1,110 more stores this year, expanding both its namesake chain and its higher-end Popshelf format, which sells most merchandise for $5 or less.

H.E. Butt Grocery

H.E. Butt Grocery’s newest store in Lake Austin, Texas, features community-focused design elements, including dine-in eateries such as an in-store coffee and breakfast counter, a Southflo pizza and a True Texas BBQ that also serves Texas craft beers. The two-story 97,000-square-foot store also features natural lighting, pitched roofs and vine-covered walls as well as art from The Art of Texas Parks Collection.

Lidl

German-founded discount grocery chain Lidl is planning to expand its supply chain capacity in Pennsylvania. The grocer has purchased nearly 70 acres in Bucks County, Pa. for a future warehouse at the site of the Keystone Trade Center, located along the Delaware River across from Trenton, New Jersey.

Lowes Foods

Over the next several years, Lowes Foods has scheduled five new store openings in North and South Carolina and will cut the ribbon on a Pittsboro, N.C., location this year that will follow a new entertainment-forward model.

Kroger

Kroger is adopting e2Cos.’ R3Di system to guard its Ralphs distribution center in California against power outages. Installation for the backup energy storage solution is expected to wrap up by early summer, allowing the on-site system to be used as primary or standby backup power as needed.

Meijer’s

Midwest retailer Meijer is opening smaller-footprint locations in the Detroit area. The inaugural Meijer Grocery stores spotlight locallysourced products in nearly every department, from Michigan-made spirits to seasonal produce to foods from artisan makers.

Aldi

ALDI opened seven new stores last week across California, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and South Dakota as part of efforts to open around 150 new locations in 2022. ALDI plans to open its first Staten Island store in the new year.

Hospitality

Hard Rock Bristol

Hard Rock Bristol has opened a 30,000-square-foot temporary gaming facility with a sportsbook, approximately 900 slot machines and 20 table games in a former department store in Virginia. The casino, which is the first in the state, will have a permanent home on the grounds of Bristol Mall in 2024 and feature a nearly 100,000-square-foot gaming floor, 300-room hotel, concert venues and multiple dining options.

Red Hawk Casino

A new entertainment complex, along with a five-story, 120,000-square-foot hotel, is set to open at Red Hawk Casino in Placerville, Calif., later this year. The 85,000-square-foot complex will house an 18-lane bowling alley, an indoor go-kart track, an arcade and golf simulation bays.

Great Wolf Lodge

Plans are underway to build a Great Wolf Lodge water park resort in Webster, Texas. The resort, to open in 2024, will house a 75,000-squarefoot water park, roughly 400,000 square feet of entertainment and lodging space and a 10,000-square-foot indoor convention center.

Roost

The opening of ROOST Cleveland, a concept known for bridging boutique hotels with apartment style living, marks the first location outside of Philadelphia for the ROOST brand and the first high-design extended-stay hotel concept for the city of Cleveland.

Snoqualmie Casino

Cumming Group and Skanska are leading construction on a $400 million renovation and expansion of the Snoqualmie Casino in Snoqualmie, Washington. The work will add a 210-room hotel and 11,000 square feet to the casino’s gaming floor, as well as a fitness center, spa, convention center, garage and two restaurants.

Caption by Hyatt

Memphis, Tennessee has been chosen for Hyatt Hotels Corp.’s first Caption by Hyatt, an upscale, limited-service brand with emphasis on culinary innovation, social spaces, diversity and sustainability. This summer’s opening of the Caption by Hyatt Beale Street Memphis will be followed by debuts in Shanghai, Osaka, Tokyo and Saigon through 2025.

Hotel Ella

Austin, Texas’ historic Hotel Ella will see a quadrupling of its guest rooms in an expansion planned by owner Rex LLC with an estimated cost exceeding $100 million. A rooftop garden, extensive underground parking and a restaurant of “Paris-level quality” are in the offing.