from the editor’s desk tech viewpoint: a retail tech column
TOP 100 U.S. RETAILERS
Walmart and Amazon once again take the top spots in Chain Store Age’s annual ranking of the nation’s 100 largest retailers
STORE SPACES
17
Preview of Chain Store Age’s annual SPECS conference, which is focused on store design, construction and facilities management
18
Trending Stores: Eyewear brand Oakley’s new “bunker style” flagship includes customization zone where customers can personalize their shades.
20
Vendor Q&A: Excel Dryer’s Debbie Frangie discusses the benefits of hand dryers versus paper towels.
21
Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard is accelerating expansion with flexible formats and adaptive reuse.
REAL ESTATE
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The SPACEMAKERS: Retail space is being leased faster than it has in 20 years. Learn how developers are creating and carving out much-needed space for expanding brands.
26
‘The New Anchors’: How food-and-beverage chains are fueling retail center visits
to contact@chainstoreage.com, or call 1-877-687-7321.
Top
Counting Down
The “Hot” Retailers
Who’s hot in retail and who’s not? It’s a loaded question — one that seems increasingly defined by social media buzz and influencer partnerships.
That’s short-sighted thinking to me. While brands can go viral at lightning speed these days, they can become yesterday’s news just as fast.
I’d rather define “hot” retailers by their year-over-year performance. In that, I’m in agreement with the National Retail Federation, whose “Hot 25 Retailers List,” compiled by Kantar, ranks the nation’s fastest-growing retailers based on increases in domestic sales year over year, or between 2023 and 2024. All retail companies with global sales in excess of $2 billion, and key format leaders, are eligible.
This year’s list features a diverse lineup of players, including a growing number of foreign-based companies, with either already well-established or fast-growing U.S. footprints.
Some of the retailers made the list through acquisitions, including U.K.-based athletic-inspired fashion retailer JD Sports, which took the No. 1 spot. The brand’s U.S. sales rose 41.5% year over year in 2024 after adding nearly 1,200 Hibbett, City Gear and Sports Addition stores across 36 states to its global portfolio.
Dublin-based Primark took the No. 2 spot with 30% year-over-year sales growth, followed by another import, Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing, whose sales rose 27.7%.
Other Japanese retailers on the list are Daiso Sangyo (No. 13) and Muji (No. 14).
Rounding out the top five are Shell (sales up 26.8% following its purchase of Timewise stores from Landmark and Brewer from Brewer Oil, and Abercrombie & Fitch (up 15.2%).
Grocers and c-stores made a particularly strong standing this year. Superior Grocers, one of the largest independently owned chains of grocery stores in Southern California, took the sixth spot, with sales increasing 14.10%. it was followed by Aldi (sales up 13.50%), Sprouts (up 12.90%), QuikTrip (up 10.90%) and Grocery Outlet (up 10.90%, reflecting its acquisition of 40 United Grocery Outlet stores).
Acquisitions are not the only route to the Hot 25. Some retailers made the list through fairly rapid expansion. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, No. 21 with an 8% sales increase, added a net of 47 stores in 2024.
One of the biggest surprises on the list, according to the NRF, is that Amazon, the country’s second largest retailer based on annual revenue, is still growing at a pace strong enough to merit a return to the Hot 25. Amazon landed at No. 11, with 9.4% sales growth, returning to the list for the first time since 2021.
Below is the complete 2025 Hot Retailers List.
1. JD Sports
2. Primark
3. Fast Retailing
4. Shell
5. Abercrombie & Fitch
6. Superior Grocers
7. Aldi
8. Sprouts
9. QuikTrip
10. Grocery Outlet
11. Amazon
12. Burlington
13. Daiso Sangyo
14. Muji
15. Five Below 16. Hmart
17. ampm
18. Total Wine and More
19. Harbor Freight Tools
20. 99 Ranch Market
21. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet
22. Sephora (LVMH)
23. Wawa
24. Festival Foods
25. CVS
Marianne Wilson mwilson@chainstoreage.com
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BRAND MANAGEMENT
Vice President & Group Publisher, SPECS Chairman Gary Esposito gesposito@ensembleiq.com
EDITORIAL
Editor
Marianne Wilson mwilson@ensembleiq.com
Technology Editor Dan Berthiaume dberthiaume@ensembleiq.com
Real Estate Editor Al Urbanski aurbanski@ensembleiq.com
Online Editor
Zachary Russell zrussell@ensembleiq.com
ADVERTISING SALES & BUSINESS
Midwest & South Sales Manager Michael Morrissey mmorrissey@ensembleiq.com
East & West Sales Manager Lise Slaviero Groh lgroh@ensembleiq.com
Real Estate Sales Manager Al Urbanski aurbanski@ensembleiq.com
Senior Account Executive Nick Lipere NLipere@chainstoreage.com
EVENTS/MARKETING
Program Director Deena AmatoMcCoy damccoy@ensembleiq.com
Event Director Melissa Murphy mmurphy@ensembleiq.com
Production Manager Patricia Wisser pwisser@ensembleiq.com
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CORPORATE OFFICERS
Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Litterick
Jane Volland
People
Ann Jadown Chief Operating Officer Derek Estey
Methodology: Behind the numbers
ChainStoreAge’s Top 100 ranks North American-based retail companies according to total net revenue — except if otherwise noted — for the firm’s most recently completed fiscal year as of press time.
The list also includes foreign-based companies, such as Sephora, that have a significant U.S. footprint. In these instances, only the revenue related to the company’s North American division is provided (except where otherwise noted.)
Store counts for retailers based in North America reflect the company’s total global store count (except where otherwise noted). For foreign-based companies, the store counts reflect the company’s North American division.
The Top 100 ranking contains a number of privately owned companies that do not release annual reports, financial statements or basic details related to their operations. The metrics for these companies, which are highlighted in the listing with an E, are estimated based on public and private reports and independent research. (Research compiled by contributing editor Debra Hazel.)
Retail sales will grow between 2.7 % - 3.7 % in 2025 year over year, to between $ 5.42 - $ 5.48 trillion
Online and non-store sales are expected to account for $1.57 to $1.6 trillion of the overall total.
Source: National Retail Federation
Nearly all ( 97 %) say the availability of free shipping affects their online ordering decisions to some degree, with 77 % saying it “greatly” impacts their decision.
Source: AlixPartners’ “Home Delivery Survey”
The average cost of a data breach for U.S. companies jumped 9 % to an all-time high of $ 10.22 million in 2025
Source: IBM’s “Cost of a Data Breach Report” surveyed consumers
The U.S. secondhand apparel market grew 14% in 2024, outpacing the broader retail clothing market by five times. Nearly all ( 94%) surveyed retail executives say their customers are already participating in resale, up four percentage points from 2023.
Source: ThredUp’s 2025 “Retail Resale Report”
First-party fraud has increased to become the leading type globally, representing 36 % of all reported fraud in 2024, up from 15 % in 2023.
85 % of surveyed global retail executives have already developed AI capabilities and solutions. Over half ( 53 %) plan to invest in AI capabilities during the next several years
Source: Honeywell
The total amount of dollars lost to returns abuse and fraud in 2024 was $ 103 $ 101 billion in 2023.
Source: Appriss Retail’s “2024 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry” (in collaboration with Deloitte)
Trader Joe’s and Patagonia came out on top in an annual brand reputation survey.
Source: Axios Harris Poll 100
Almost all ( 99.9 %) U.S. households purchased a private label grocery item in the past 12 months, followed by health & beauty (99.4%), household products (99.1%) and home & garden (98.4%). capabilities and solutions, with 60 % actively expanding them.
Source: Numerator billion, up from
By 2029, Forrester expects U.S. total retail sales to reach
$ 6.0 trillion and U.S. online retail sales to reach
$ 1.8 trillion. U.S. online penetration is expected to grow to 29 % by 2029.
Source: Forrester
In 2024, U.S. retailers lost an estimated $ 45 billion to shoplifting; 73 % of those surveyed say that shoplifters are exhibiting more violence and aggression than they were a year ago.
Source: National Retail Federation
The average return rate for online transactions is threetimes higher than the return rate for in-store purchases.
Source: Retail Systems Research
SPECS 2026: The Countdown Is On!
Annual event is dedicated to store construction, design and facilities management
By Deena Amato-McCoy
SPECS Appoints
Executive Advisory Board
The hallmarks of Chain Store Age’s SPECS event include educational sessions and workshops, which cover a wide range of topics. The SPECS Advisory Board plays a pivotal role in planning this critical aspect of the program, functioning as a think tank in helping to create and develop the sessions.
The board is comprised of approximately 40 industry leaders from retail companies — both traditional and non-traditional — and key supplier companies. As industry insiders, the board members’ insights and expertise are essential in the creation of sessions that will strongly resonate with attendees. The members also serve as ambassadors for SPECS.
Five SPECS veterans were selected as SPECS 2026’s Executive Advisory Board members. The members guide their individual teams, and provide overall program direction.
The 2026 executive leaders are:
• David Dillon, principal design lead templates & standards, design, restaurant development, Chick-fil-A;
• Sara Iverson-Smith, director of new store development and real estate, Batteries Plus;
• Lisa Smola-Hollo, director, construction - East, Dutch Bros; and
• Joshua Witte, director, energy and sustainability; real estate, property management, Dollar Tree.
Want to take advantage of all that Chain Store Age’s annual SPECS event has to offer?
Register now for SPECS 2025 at:
ChainStoreAge is gearing up for its annual SPECS conference, which will be held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, March 8-10, 2026.
Now in its 62nd year, SPECS attracts the nation’s top retailers and suppliers involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of brick-andmortar stores and restaurants nationwide. The event will combine dynamic keynote addresses, targeted educational content, and plenty of opportunities for networking and business partnering.
The SPECS retail community is comprised of professionals who represent all sectors of the retail industry, from discounters, specialty stores and supermarkets to convenience stores, home-improvement centers and more. It also includes restaurants and specialty concepts, as well as non-traditional retail, including the financial and health care sectors.
One of the hallmarks of SPECS is the educational program. The 2026 event will feature 30 targeted sessions across six different tracks on the latest trends and innovations related to the design, construction and maintenance of physical stores and restaurants, with insights from retailers and industry experts alike.
SPECS will also feature plenty of business partnering and collaboration opportunities. In addition to interacting with retail executives, business experts and peers during breakout sessions, attendees can foster connections at meal functions as well as on SPECS’ expansive exhibit floor, which features a diverse array of solutions and services designed to provide a better in-store experience for customers and maximize operational efficiencies.
SPECS attendees can also expect a rich and diverse lineup of keynote speakers and enhanced networking receptions. The achievements of female retail executives in store development and facilities
management will be honored at the show with the presentation of Chain Store Age’s “Top Women in Store Development and Facilities Awards.”
“Each year, SPECS brings together the nation’s leading retailers and suppliers across store development and facilities management, said Gary Esposito, SPECS VP and chairman and group publisher for Chain Store Age. “SPECS will continue to adapt and innovate as the industry evolves, providing a community forum where attendees can learn more about the solutions and innovations that can give them a competitive edge.”
SPECS 2026 will tackle some of the industry’s biggest challenges. Among this year’s hot topics are:
• Technology and Data-Driven Design: Strategies, Benefits and Best Practices: A look at how customer behavior data, heatmaps and artificial intelligence can optimize store layouts and improve customer experience.
• Recovery and Resilience: Continuity Plans and Prepping for Natural Disasters: Gain tips needed to create a comprehensive disaster plan that protects facilities from potential emergencies.
• Accelerating Retail Rollouts: Strategies for Efficient Multi-Site Renovations: Insights into the best practices fostering effective collaboration between retailers and developer partners during project management.
• Avoiding Construction Liability Landmines: Discover the robust risk management strategies that will prevent liabilities in design and building plans.
• Addressing the Skilled Trades Gap Through Project Management: Experts share the newest initiatives to help overcome the skilled trades gap.
Oakley’s new flagship in Denver is designed as an immersive, omnichannel shopping experience in a high-tech “bunker style” space that also doubles as a brand museum, showcasing 50 years of eyewear product innovation and athlete partnerships. Highlights include a customization zone where customers can personalize shades with preferred frames, lenses or sport team colors; and an interactive space where shoppers can experience Oakley lenses under changing conditions. A rooftop lounge is available for curated community gatherings from club meetups to athlete meet-and-greets. … “Alternative” luxury menswear brand John Varvatos has opened a flagship, complete with in-house tailors, in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. The interior elements include antiques found in Paris flea markets and a combination of vintage and custom-designed furniture in leather, wood and steel. The space also features artwork curated by Morrison Hotel Gallery, known for its fine art music photography, with the photos available for purchase. … Skechers opened a 26,017-sq.-ft. performance-oriented store at Dolphin Mall in Miami. The location features an immersive environment that includes a running racetrack, basketball and pickleball courts, golf green, and soccer and sport adventure areas, all surrounded by state-of-the-art digital LED screens. … Korean beauty retailer Sukoshi opened its its 15th U.S. location, on New
York City’s Upper East Side, with at least five more stores to open by yearend. By 2026, 40 new stores will join the network. … Netflix’s first immersive entertainment/retail concept, Netflix House, will open at King of Prussia Mall in the Philly suburb of King of Prussia on Nov. 12, and at Galleria Dallas on Dec. 11. … Urban Outfitters’ Maeve brand will open standalone retail stores, with the first opening this fall in Raleigh, N.C. … Sporting goods retailer Scheels, famous for its mega-sized stores filled with a variety of attractions, will open in Oklahoma City in spring 2028. The 300,000-plus-sq.ft. location will house 80 specialty shops under its roof, along with signature attractions such as a Ferris Wheel, candy shop and 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium. … Wayfair is expanding its large-format retail concept, with 2026 openings planned for The District at Howell Mill in Atlanta, and The Shops at Northfield in Denver. It will open at Ridge Hill in Yonkers, N.Y., in early 2027.
OAKLEY
Hand Dryers: One-time investment provides multiple benefits
Retailers often focus only on upfront costs when specifying equipment, and restroom fixtures are no exception. Debbie Frangie, global marketing manager, Excel Dryer Inc., spoke with Chain Store Age about why retailers should think long-term when it comes to investing in restroom hand dryers. What is the biggest mistake that retailers make in specifying hand dryers for restrooms?
The biggest mistake is treating dryers as a commodity instead of a long-term investment. Retailers often focus only on upfront costs. Counterfeit, knock-off or old hand dryers are unlikely to have proper certifications, may use more energy and in the long run are more costly to facilities. High-efficiency dryers cut operating costs by up to 95% and reduce carbon footprints by up to 94%.
Many also overlook hygiene, ADA compliance or sustainability. Excel Dryer’s ThinAir, for example, dries hands in 14 seconds and with eHEPA filtration removes 99.999% of viruses and 99.97% of bacteria.
What are the most important features retailers should consider when selecting a hand dryer?
A key feature is performance. It’s important to have a fast solution that completely dries hands keeps customers moving. Other key features include efficiency — energy-efficient models lower costs and eliminate paper waste — and hygiene. Touchless activation and eHEPA filters support cleaner restrooms. Design is also key. Excel offers stainless steel, powder coating and digital imaging for logos or colors. Our Xchanger kits can easily replace paper towel dispensers. Balancing speed, sustainability, hygiene and design ensures better customer experience. Tell us about Excel Dryer and its products.
Family-owned and operated, Massachusetts-based Excel designs and manufactures all products in the U.S. Our
Xlerator set the standard for high-speed, energy-efficient drying, and the lineup now includes XleratoReco, XleratorRsync and ThinAir.
All Excel hand dryers have environmental product declarations (EPDs) and health product declarations (HPDs). This can help retailers such as Tanger Outlets, which was able to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating by retrofitting their Xlerator hand dryers with eHEPA Filtration.
Additionally, what sets Excel apart is a commitment to innovation, quality and community. Employees take pride in seeing dryers they built in airports, schools and stadiums worldwide. Many have been with the company for decades, creating a culture of craftsmanship and care. What benefits do hand dryers offer retailers over paper towels?
Dryers eliminate the expense of buying, storing and restocking paper towels. They reduce labor costs tied to refilling dispensers and cleaning up messes. Restrooms stay cleaner without paper littering floors or clogging toilets.
How do hand dryers compare to paper towels cost-wise?
Paper towels bring endless recurring costs for supplies, storage and disposal. They also require constant production and disposal.
Hand dryers are a one-time investment with minimal maintenance and very low operating costs. Excel’s cost savings calculator shows that high-traffic restrooms can save substantially, with return of investment often in 12 months or less. Eliminating towels also lowers carbon emissions by thousands of kilograms annually.
What about from a sustainability point of view?
A recent Life Cycle Assessment comparing the impact of hand dryers versus paper towels confirms that Excel hand dryers reduce carbon footprint by up to 94% compared to paper towels, including
100% recycled options. The cradle-tograve analysis evaluates material, energy, water, and pollutant impacts throughout the product lifecycle.
Excel hand dryers outperform paper towels in eutrophication (water pollution); ascidification (acid rain formation); smog and ozone depletion (air quality impacts); fossil fuel use and emissions (resource depletion, carcinogens, ecotoxicity); and water consumption, being significantly lower than paper towels.
Can Excel help with ADA compliance?
Yes. ThinAir and Xlerator with ADA recess kits meet the 4” wall projection rule, making them accessible to all users. Both models offer adjustable speed and sound, multiple voltage options and a choice of finishes.
Also, antimicrobial wall guards prevent wall damage and inhibit bacterial growth. These options ensure restrooms are accessible, hygienic and efficient.
Can Excel Dryers be customized to a retailer’s specifications?
Yes. Excel offers the most extensive customization in the industry. Digital imaging permanently integrates logos, colors, artwork or sustainability messages into covers. Retailers can use these options to reinforce branding, highlight green initiatives or enhance décor.
Excel has also partnered with Artists for Humanity to feature youth-created artwork on dryers. Because the designs are embedded into the finish, they do not peel or fade, turning dryers into durable branded assets.
Rita’s Focused on Expansion
Chain ramps up growth with flexible formats, adaptive reuse
By Zachary Russell
Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard has taken a creative approach to real estate development as it continues to grow its store count.
The East Coast quick-serve chain recently launched a flexible drive-thru prototype that is adaptable to various footprints (500 sq. ft. to 2,500 sq. ft.), including walk-up and drive-thru-only builds. Rita’s also has expanded by converting former banks, dry cleaners and other nontraditional sites into thriving treat shops.
With nearly 600 shops across 30-plus states (total includes 10 international sites), Rita’s has opened 16 new locations so far this year. It plans to launch an additional 19 locations by year end, reinforcing its commitment to thoughtful, strategic growth in key markets, the company said.
Chain Store Age spoke with Lawrence Brown, who joined Rita’s as chief development officer earlier this year. Brown detailed how the chain has expanded its footprint through a flexible real estate model and adaptive reuse.
When was Rita’s launched?
Rita’s Italian Ice was founded in 1984, in Bensalem, PA, by former firefighter Bob Tumolo. It began as a single neighborhood shop serving his family’s cherished Italian ice recipe, which was handed down from his grandmother. It has grown into a beloved national brand known for spreading happiness through its frozen treats. What geographic areas is Rita’s expanding into, and how are these markets determined?
Rita’s is especially focused on growth throughout the Sun Belt and Southeastern regions, including Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and the Carolinas. These markets not only align with our warm-weather sweet spot, refreshing guests with treats, but also offer strong brand awareness, rapid population growth, and dense family demographics.
We prioritize areas where our seasonal model can be effectively extended and where our franchisees are well-positioned for long-term, year-round success. Describe Rita’s store formats and its approach to different types of vacant properties.
Rita’s offers a range of flexible store formats, including walk-up counters, traditional sit-down shops, and increasingly, drive-thru locations, that allow us to adapt to a variety of real estate opportunities.
Our development strategy is increasingly focused on second-generation spaces, especially drive-thru-enabled properties such as former banks, QSRs, coffee shops, dry-cleaners or small-format restaurants. These sites are ideal for Rita’s because of their existing infrastructure, high visibility and strong traffic flow.
With footprints typically under 1,000 sq. ft., Rita’s is uniquely positioned to bring new life to vacant retail spaces in a cost-effective and time-efficient way. The thing that sets us apart from other brands is our approach to these spaces. Instead of demolishing and rebuilding, we leverage the existing layout and infrastructure to build the Rita’s store. This reduces startup costs and build-out timelines significantly, allowing franchisees to open faster and at a lower expense.
Importantly, locations with drive-thru service perform better. Drive-thru access increases throughput during peak hours,
supports mobile and digital ordering, drives higher average checks, and delivers the speed and convenience today’s guests expect.
In colder markets, it also helps extend Rita’s appeal beyond the traditional seasonal window. This adaptive real estate approach enables us to enter new communities quickly and strategically, while providing franchisees with greater flexibility to select the ideal location for long-term success.
How is the chain adapting to changing consumer trends?
At Rita’s, we’re evolving alongside the industry by accelerating our drive-thru expansion nationwide, enhancing our mobile and online ordering experiences to make it easy for guests to interact with us, and leveraging adaptive real estate formats to better meet customers wherever they are.
But just as importantly, we’re doubling down on what makes Rita’s truly special: delivering nostalgia, joy, and family-friendly fun through high-quality, fresh-made treats every day. In a climate where customers seek feel-good, affordable indulgences and franchisees want proven, flexible models, Rita’s is uniquely positioned to thrive.
We’re not chasing trends for the sake of it. We focus on meaningful innovation that honors our legacy while making us more accessible, more convenient, and more relevant than ever.
Rita’s is on track to open nearly 40 new locations in 2025. (Credit: Rita’s)
The SPACEMAKERS
Retail space is being leased faster than it has in 20 years. Rents continue to rise. Learn what top developers are doing to keep expansion on track.
By Al Urbanski
ASeptember market report published by Davidson Kempner—a global real estate investment firm that focuses on properties with underappreciated or overlooked value—predicted that long-term interest rates will continue to rise.
“Higher rates tend to coincide with higher cap rates and increased cost of capital,” read the report. “This typically leads to decreased new construction.”
In other words, the meager 4% retail space availability rate (even lower for Class A space) will continue to plague expanding retailers for some time to come.
“It’s tough,” said Brandon Svec, who consistently tracks real estate availability in his job as CoStar’s national director of retail analytics. “Spaces 10,000 sq. ft. and up are available. But spaces 2,500 sq. ft. and under? They are virtually 25% less available than they’ve been over the past 10 years.”
A CoStar chart in a Q2 “Retail Market Dynamics” study published by JLL reported that the average time between a space being vacated and a new lease for the space being signed is a mere seven months—the shortest period ever tracked by CoStar since it began examining lease signings some 20 years ago.
“Over the last decade, developers have torn down 250 million sq. ft. of retail, and that 250 million sq. ft. has not been rebuilt,” noted Svec. “Creativity is going to be the name of the game from now on, because we don’t expect an uptick in retail real estate construction coming any time in the next decade.”
It’s showtime, then, for retail real estate developers. Higher rents star in their scripts, but so do space-savvy buildouts, refurbished secondary and tertiary market centers, and creative solutions to keep their important retail clients’ dollars-per-square-foot numbers rising.
Chain Store Age spoke to several of them. Read ahead to learn what’s on their minds.
SCOTT SCHNUCKEL
CBRE’s
Managing Director, Americas Retail
Schnuckel just joined CBRE in April of this year. In the 19 years before that, he worked for Kohl’s, ending up as its VP of property development and head of real estate.
Who better to know what’s on the minds of retailers in the Space Stasis era?
“Retailers are much more flexible on co-tenant requirements these days. It wasn’t long ago that we had four or five centers to pick from in a new market, but those days are long behind us,” Schnuckel said.
“You see long-time Class A mall occupiers going into B and C malls. Open-air occupiers going into malls. Outlet brands going into grocery-anchored centers. The guardrails are off.”
What’s making decisions like these more credible is the arrival of predictive analytics software and highly informed customer traffic data.
“Site selection has become more scientific,” noted Schnuckel, “and it's opening new doors for retailers in their expansion efforts.”
ADAM SCHWEGMAN
Head of retail, Jamestown
Jamestown is a developer that covers a wide swath of retail real estate types. It’s more than 90 centers include Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, the Ridge Hill mixed-use center combining office, residential, and top-level retail in Yonkers, N.Y., urban retail, and grocery-anchored centers.
Schwegman observed that the leasing situation is similar across all of those diverse property types.
“It’s absolutely the same in all segments, whether it’s Class A suburban lifestyle centers or premier mixed-use properties,” he said. “Use categories are expanding. We’ve seen concierge dentistry, medical providers—even custom picture framing shops—converging on centers where they’ll draw high-income demographics.”
Schwegman noted that Jamestown, like many other developers, is seeing high demand from retailers looking for smaller spaces.
“I wish we had more small-space inventory. It’s in short supply across the board in our portfolio,” he said.
That’s led to Jamestown carving out 250 sq. ft. micro-spaces that are being filled by brands such as Warby Parker and L’Occitane to connect with consumers.
ADAM IFSHIN CEO, DLC Management Corporation
Adam Ifshin, the founder of DLC isn’t building any new open-air centers, but he sure is acquiring them.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from capital lenders, the Elmhurst, N.Y.-based developer has been on a buying spree of large open-air centers for the past two years. Among them are…
• The 316,000-sq.-ft. Town Center at Cedar Lodge in Baton Rouge, which recorded 3.3 million visits last year, making it the most-visited retail property in the state capital.
• Springfield Commons, a 119,000-sq.-ft. center in Fairfax, Va., anchored by the state’s most visited Home Depot.
• Two centers totaling more than 400,000 sq. ft.—Spring Creek Centre and Steele Crossing—in Fayetteville, Ark.
“Now is a wonderful time to acquire under-market rent,” Ifshin said. “You’re gaining control of what will be a scarce commodity. There’s nothing out there, and that’s not going to change anytime soon.”
DLC’s 80-plus centers are all open-air properties. Ifshin believes they provide consumers with a wide range of different brands in great locations that are easy to shop, and that’s why he aims to buy as many of them as he can.
“Open-air centers are where it’s at,” he said. “Every one of our assets can have a Home Goods, a Nike Factory Store, and a Ross’s Dress for Less.”
Ifshin remains bullish on the strength of American consumers. They continue to shop in inflationary times, and he maintains that all classes of society are drawn to the wide variety of tenants in open air centers.
“Even the rich want a bargain,” Ifshin said.
JOSH POAG President and CEO, Poag Development Group
While most retail real estate developers have parked their bulldozers and cement trucks, Poag Development Group is busy building new space.
“We saw two years ago that construction had stalled and knew there was going
to be a great demand for new space, so we began putting together a pipeline for ground-up developments,” said Poag. “We knew we wouldn’t be getting the footprints we wanted with second- or third-generation space, so we said, if we could put this together ourselves, retailers are going to do a lot of business with us.”
Three years ago, the Memphis-based company entered into a partnership with JLL that would allow it to focus on development and redevelopment while the global real estate services provider took over leasing and property management for Poag properties.
The first project embarked upon by the new partners was Avenue One in Omaha, a 200-acre, mixed-use property that will hold some 1,500 apartments, 785,000 sq. ft. of office, and 600,000 sq.-ft. of retail.
In 2023, the partnership acquired the 847,000-sq.-ft. Oak Court Mall, not far from Poag’s Memphis headquarters.
“We’ve been looking at Oak Court for 10-plus years,” Poag said. “Now is the right time to take it down and create a ground-up property suited to the current market.”
ERIKA MORASCO VP of property management,
LMC
In its 70 years of managing shopping centers in the Northeast, Levin Management Corporation (LMC) has learned a few thousand tricks for fitting the right retailers in the right centers. At the beginning of 2025’s third quarter, LMC closed on 72,300 sq. ft. of leases at its Blue Star Shopping Center in Watchung, N.J. How did this happen?
Long-time anchor ShopRite wanted to build a modern, 72,000-sq.-ft. supermarket at Blue Star, leaving its old building entirely vacant. It won’t stay that way for long. Marshalls and Burlington will be joining it side-by-side. In addition, new leases were finalized with Five Below,
I, Cement Robot
One of the primary factors hampering new retail real estate construction is the availability of (and high cost of) labor. Over the past few years, however, several companies such as Alquid, COBOD, MaxiPrinter, and MudBots have introduced 3D concrete printers that exude a special formula of concrete able to be produced anywhere in the world with locally sourced cement and gravel.
One developer that has taken advantage of the benefits of 3DCP is Woodstock, Ga.-based FMGI, which has completed two 3DCP projects for Walmart. Chain Store Age spoke with FMGI’s CEO, Darin Ross, to learn more about this new technology.
What is the cost of a concrete printer?
We bought two robots and mixing equipment required for 3DCP. It is a significant financial investment which demonstrates our confidence in the technology and its value in retail real estate construction.
Are 3DCP robots faster than human cement masons?
On our last 3DCP job, we spent 11 days onsite versus 28 planned for traditional CMU [concrete masonry units]. During 3D printing, our team is focused on programming the robot, managing the mix, and overseeing the printing process versus laying block, pouring concrete, and installing and dismantling scaffolding.
It’s important to note, however, that 3DCP will not replace humans completely. It’s a component used in the construction process for a variety of projects, but not all.
What is the cost of concrete printing vs. human labor?
The labor cost is reduced with 3DCP because we can work with a five-person crew versus an eight-to12-person crew. That’s a reduction of 40-to-60% in manual labor costs. Also, the robot is more precise, more consistent, and can output more production and work for extended hours. Much of those savings of time and money are due to the elimination of scaffolding.
Are the buildings created by the robots better than ones created by human workers?
The psi breaking point of a 3DCP wall is 7000, which is 350% stronger than masonry concrete. We are seeing a 50% reduction in waste as compared to CMU—4.5% waste, down from 10%.
Taco Bell, and Nails Spa & Beyond.
“The redevelopment at Blue Star, anchored by the new ShopRite, has created tremendous leasing momentum,” said Morasco. “Retailers want to be part of this refreshed environment, and that energy is driving activity across the center.”
LMC relies on its leasing and construction management teams, which work together under one roof to speed new builds.
“Our construction team is very effective at overseeing the process and securing the necessary approvals for space conversions,” Morasco noted.
NAVEEN JAGGI
President of retail advisory services, JLL
Jaggi, who keeps an eye on new shopping center builds nationwide, isn’t seeing much of it happening—except for new construction in Sun Belt markets and 20,000-sq.-ft. strip centers going up in densifying markets.
“The spaces available for power center retailers are few. Some of them are starting to open in malls,” he noted. “For them, it’s just getting access to population growth in regions where people are willing to drive long distances to get to the malls. Placer.ai data can tell us where they drove in from and how long they will stay at a center.”
The one retail sector that continues an even pace of expansion, he said, is grocery.
“H-E-B is dedicated to building between 10 and 20 new stores across North Texas alone over the next five years,” he observed.
“And Aldi has been very aggressive in the Midwest. They’re seeing a lot of activity for second-generation space throughout Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois.”
ETHAN CHERNOFSKY
CMO of Placer.ai
Chernofsky, like CoStar’s Brandon Svec, thinks that the battle for good retail space is one that will rage on for years to come, and that retailers must be prepared to find new ways to fight it.
“The really interesting question is not, ‘When will more space start being built?’ It’s ‘What kinds of new retail strategies will begin to emerge?’” said Chernofsky. “Which brands are going to look for alternative ways to create space near major
audiences? Macy’s has done a good job of accomplishing more in smaller stores. So look at the four walls of your store. Where can you find under-utilized space?”
He’s convinced that retailers can shift gears in the race for space and accomplish their goals, because they’ve done that time and time again in reaction to changing consumer behaviors.
“Brick-and-mortar brands all went omnichannel but never looked at their online businesses and applied that same customer lens to their stores,” noted Chernofsky. “I think that’s starting to happen now, but it’s still the tip of the iceberg.”
SPENCER JORDAN
Senior VP of leasing, Steiner + Associates (Easton Town Center)
Easton Town Center in Columbus may well be the property most prepared to make space for new tenants. Moving current tenants to make space for new arrivals has been an ongoing activity at Ohio’s premier retail-based destination since it opened some 25 years ago.
“We have pushed tenants under parking decks, built mezzanines on top of existing retail,” said Jordan. “When the Gap lease expired, we got them in a smaller space so Lush could take their corner location. We make sure the situation is beneficial for both the retailer that’s coming in and the retailer that’s downsizing.”
One key advantage that Easton holds over most other centers is that its operator—Steiner + Associates—maintains a construction crew to handle all the builds and re-builds that are regular occurrences at the property.
“We want our tenants to be as productive per square foot as possible. They’re paying lower rents, and we’re picking up new retail space,” said Jordan, who did the leasing for a 100,000-sq.-ft. Fashion District in Easton’s North District that opened last year.
“Occupancy is not our North Star; merchandising is,” Jordan noted. “We’re not driven by just backfilling what exists today. Our obsession is refining the merchandising of the center and pushing ourselves to be the best.”
STEVE WEISS
Chief revenue officer, Centennial
Dick’s House of Sports is proving to be a game-changer for Centennial, the Dallasbased mall operator and renovator.
“Dick’s is a great illustration of a power brand that is expanding into both larger and smaller markets,” said Weiss. “They’ll soon be opening at our Mission Valley in San Diego and Annapolis Mall in Maryland, both of them filling empty department store spaces.”
Centennial is also experiencing a very strong demand for space in the 2,500-to5,000-sq.-ft. range.
“We are seeing a tremendous trend of rightsizing. Lululemon is doing a number of expansions that are smaller than their common footprints, and Victoria’s Secret is moving down to 7,000 sq. ft. versus 9,000,” Weiss observed. “They understand they can get small and maintain better operating efficiencies.”
JARED PERRONE
Senior VP of leasing, Spinoso Real Estate Group
One of the 44 malls operated by Spinoso, SouthPark Mall in Strongsville, Ohio, is a textbook example of the shortage of smaller spaces.
“SouthPark had a surplus of tenants in the 2,000-to-5,000-sq.-ft. range and a shortage of tenants in the 8,000-to15,000-sq.-ft. range,” said Perrone.
“We’re prioritizing filling up that small shop space with high- performers.”
Spinoso bought SouthPark because it viewed Strongsville as a populous suburb 30 miles south of Cleveland with little competition from other centers. Most of the brands in the mall have no local overlap with sister stores.
“SouthPark draws seven million visitors a year,” Perrone said. “When we opened Kyuramen recently, the event got over one million impressions on Facebook and Instagram about this restaurant.”
JEFF MOOALLEM
COO of Urban Edge
“It’s been fun to be in this business and play on offense,” Mooallem said. “It’s been a defense business for a long while.”
New York City-based Urban Edge owns and operates some 70 retail properties, most of them large, open-air centers in the Northeast that stretch from Boston to Virginia Beach. Among them are Shoppers World in Framingham, Mass. and Bergen Town Center in Paramus, N.J.
Urban Edge does not undertake large-scale new construction. The company focuses on buying big, well-known centers in populous areas that draw customers within hour-long drive times.
“We will buy a center, tear down existing space and approach key tenants like BJ or Lowe's,” Mooallem said.
Rents are rising, and Mooallem expects that to continue for some time.
Reimagining Centers. Renewing Communities.
Levin is reimagining what shopping centers can be—creating properties that are competitive, welcoming, and built for today’s retail success.
Blue Star Shopping Center in Watchung, NJ has been revitalized with a multimillion-dollar redevelopment. This 420,000-SF destination is anchored by a new modern ShopRite and draws 2.9M visitors annually.
“We’re pushing harder on rents and increases. We sometimes have two or three potential tenants bidding on the same space,” he said. “As landlords, however, we have to be more inventive in taking our centers to the level that make those rents worth it.”
JARED ROTHKOPF
Real estate attorney, Polsinelli Law Firm
As a lawyer handling lease negotiations for top retail brands, Rothkopf has experienced first-hand the fueling frenzy of retail’s Space Stasis.
“I’ve experienced the heaviest volume of leasing transactions that I’ve ever seen in my career over the past three years,” said Rothkopf. “Even as inflation kept going up or moderating just a bit, people kept spending. Retailers needed to keep finding space.”
Lease negotiations are moving at a whirlwind pace in the Chicago offices of Polsinelli Law.
“We rep a coffee brand that is quickly sweeping into L.A., Phoenix, Austin, and Nashville. When they find a good location, it’s a mad rush to make a deal,” he said. “Brokers always have a sense of urgency, and now that’s amplified by the client’s urgency and the landlord’s urgency. All parties are rushing to lock in those deals.”
‘The New Anchors’: How food and beverage chains are fueling retail center visits
Quick-serve and fast-casual restaurants are benefitting malls in a big way
By Zach Russell
Food and beverage chains of all types are having a major impact on shopping center traffic, with some select chains giving properties an outsized boost in visits.
Whether it be coffee hubs, fried chicken chains, burger joints, or other trending restaurant sectors, quick-serve and fast-casual chains are attracting visitors to shopping centers, who then stay for the retail.
For many years, food and beverage chains complemented traditional tenants. Now, restaurants are often the star of the show.
“A strong food and beverage mix is incredibly important,” said Chris Brandon, senior VP, eat/drink, mixed-use retail at Brookfield Properties, which hosts more than 2,000 eateries in total across its retail portfolio. “Almost half of the guests that traffic our properties cite food as a reason for coming. When we look at how we’re merchandising our centers and the balance between food and beverage versus retail, service or any other categories, depending on the shopping center we could dedicate anywhere from 25-to-45% of the GLA specifically to restaurants as a way to specifically drive traffic to the property.”
According to data from the foot traffic analytics provider Placer.ai, four restaurant chains in particular are leading the pack when it comes to annual visit increases.
From January to August of 2025, Dave’s Hot Chicken has seen visits increase 58.7% compared to the same period in 2024. Cava (19.8%), Dutch Bros (12.6%) and In-N-Out Burger (6.9%) are also having strong performances so far this year according to the data, which includes all locations, not just those at retail centers.
“Given the strong loyalty these brands command, it’s no surprise they generate significant traffic and attract new visitors upon opening,” noted R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai. “As malls continue their evolution into entertainment and lifestyle destinations, we
expect the restaurant tenant mix to evolve as well, with an increasing emphasis on brands that offer unique dining experiences or have a strong local following.”
Average visits per location from January to August of this year increased at Dave’s Hot Chicken (5.6%), Cava (3.2%) and In-N-Out Burger (2.8%), while same-store trips to Dutch Bros (-0.5%) were roughly flat.
“In many ways, restaurants in general have become the new anchors,” said Jason Baker, principal at Baker Katz, which specializes in tenant representation, leasing and development in the Houston market. “I do believe that people would be shocked to know the volume of people that even QSRs can drive to a shopping center.”
In-N-Out gets shoppers in
In its July Mall Index report, Placer.ai singled out one mall, in particular, seeing a massive year-over-year rise in visits during the month, showcasing the power of a new tenant that draws consumer interest. Boise Towne Square in Boise, Idaho, a Brookfield center, significantly outpaced the broader category in July, posting 12.2% year-over-year growth versus the national average of 1.3%.
A new In-N-Out location that opened at the mall in late October 2024 has proven
to be a major new traffic driver at the mall. Since the opening, visits to Boise Towne Square have steadily increased, reported Placer.ai, and other tenants, including other dining establishments, have also benefited from the sustained visit increases. The mall marked the second Idaho location for the popular California-based hamburger chain.
“We look at an open space and try to understand as best we can who is going to be the most productive tenant, whether it’s regional, national or hyper-local,” said Brandon. “We’re always going to target the businesses that we think are going to do the most amount of volume, be the most successful, and present a win-win proposition for both the landlord and the tenant.”
The success of the Boise In-N-Out was not an isolated example of a QSR or fast-casual chain making guests flock to a Brookfield center. In 2022, the company saw traffic spike at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu when a beloved chicken sandwich giant made its debut in Hawaii, showcasing the power of bringing a wellknown restaurant chain to a new market and exciting locals.
“Chick-fil-A is a big part of our portfolio, they are in both food courts and have drive-throughs with us,” said Brandon.
“We added the first Chick-fil-A in Hawaii
In -N-Out
to Ala Moana Center and had lines that were football fields long. Chick-fil-A in Hawaii was not a risky bet, but nonetheless, it is cool to see how productive a brand can be when you make the right decision to bring in a first-to-market tenant to the property.”
Another example he gave outside of the QSR and fast-casual sector were the openings of Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya and Supreme Dumplings at Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco. The new tenants greatly increased foot traffic to the center, which Brandon noted was an ideal combination of the “right concept, right menu, and right property.”
Coming soon to Stonestown Galleria is fast-growing chicken tender chain Raising Cane’s, which is expected to have the same effect based on the chain’s performance at other centers.
TikTok intel
Brandon also noted that his team monitors social media trends to keep up with the ever-changing trendy food and beverage categories.
“If you look at Instagram and TikTok, it’s a good way for us to track what might be appropriate for a shopping center in a given trade area,” he said. “We do our homework as to what new categories may be popping up, but ultimately, the consumer really tells us how they’re eating and what they want to eat when they visit our centers.”
When discussing which new-to-market tenants to bring to a center, Brandon said that Brookfield compares the successes of the chain in similar markets, but ultimately, sales across the board often play the biggest factor.
“The hypothesis has to be rooted in some sort of fact of ‘this brand has worked in XYZ market and in XYZ center,’ and we find similarities between those consumers and that’s why we think we’ll bring it here,” he said, citing The Cheesecake Factory as a full-service restaurant example that tends to succeed wherever one opens.
“We do a lot of business with The Cheesecake Factory, and the reason is because they are very, very consistent,” Brandon added. “They consistently rack up productive sales numbers and because of that, we like adding them to our centers. They produce results, and their sales are increasing at most properties. That’s something we want.”
If you accepted or processed Discover credit cards between 2007–2023, you could be eligible to get a payment from a class action settlement.
**YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO A SETTLEMENT PAYMENT**
To receive a payment, file a claim by May 18, 2026. WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
A proposed class action settlement has been reached in three related lawsuits. The lawsuits allege that, beginning in 2007, Discover misclassified certain Discover-issued consumer credit cards as commercial credit cards, which in turn caused merchants and others to incur excessive interchange fees. The misclassification did not impact cardholders. Discover denies the claims in the lawsuits, and the Court has not decided who is right or wrong. Instead, the proposed settlement, if approved, will resolve the lawsuits and provide benefits to Settlement Class Members.
WHO IS INCLUDED?
The Settlement Class includes all End Merchants, Merchant Acquirers, and Payment Intermediaries involved in processing or accepting a Misclassified Card Transaction during the period from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2023. To view the full Settlement Class definition, including defined terms and excluded entities, go to www.DiscoverMerchantSettlement.com.
WHAT CAN I GET?
To receive a settlement payment, with very limited exceptions, you will need to file a claim by May 18, 2026 and/or provide additional information to the Settlement Administrator. Under the proposed settlement, Discover will make payments to eligible Settlement Class Members who submit valid claims. Discover has agreed to pay between $540 million and $1.225 billion plus interest in connection with this settlement. Your settlement payment amount will be calculated based on a variety of factors.
YOUR OTHER OPTIONS.
You can file a claim for a payment by May 18, 2026 and/or provide additional information. Alternatively, you can exclude yourself from the settlement by opting out, in which case you will receive no payment under this settlement and retain any right you may have to sue Discover about the claims in these lawsuits or related to the Misclassified Card Transactions. If you do not exclude yourself, and the Court approves the settlement, you will be bound by the Court’s orders and judgments and will release any claims against Discover in these lawsuits or related to the Misclassified Card Transactions. If you do not exclude yourself, you can object to or comment on any part of the settlement. The deadline to either exclude yourself or object to the settlement is March 25, 2026. Visit the website for information on how to exercise these options.
In recent months, several quick-serve and fast-casual restaurants have made notable expansion commitments, even in the face of economic headwinds. Restaurant expansion highlights from the summer include the following:
• Qdoba Mexican Eats signed a deal with B Wild Investments to develop 50 new restaurants across Alaska, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico.
• Wendy’s opened 21 restaurants in the U.S. in the most recent quarter, in addition to expanding internationally, and plans to add 1,000 net new restaurants globally by 2028.
• Bojangles inked a deal with Hashimi Holding Corporation to make its return to New York City with 20 new locations over the next decade.
• Marco’s Pizza opened 41 new stores in the first half of 2025, and is currently on pace for a 28% yearover-year increase in new store openings for the year.
Baker added that in the QSR space, Chick-fil-A in particular makes for an ideal tenant both for its popularity among guests as well as its breakfast offerings. The expanded menu gives the chain an opportunity to boost visits to retail centers in the morning hours, as well as at lunch and dinner time. Coffee chains, like the fast-growing Dutch Bros and even the market-leader Starbucks, also produce the same effect.
“Because of the traffic Chick-fil-A generates and because of their three distinct day parts, the retailers and other restaurants around them can count on traffic being driven from morning to night with them,” he said. “There are some brands, Dutch Bros being one of them, where it truly is designed as an in-and-out experience. They may not have as much in the way of dwell time, but they are still driving traffic to retail centers.”
Not only do popular QSRs and fast-casual chains drive traffic in a key way, they also greatly improve the leasing process at shopping centers. Baker added that once
a top-performing restaurant has signed onto a site, would-be tenants, including service brands and other restaurant chains, tend to follow suit. This is just another way that restaurants bring an “anchor effect” to shopping centers, especially those under development.
“We did a development on the east side of Houston where we had a deal with 7-Eleven on the corner, then we didn’t have any of the other pads accounted for on a 10-acre site,” said Baker. “We were having conversations with different groups, but once we were able to firm up our deal with Chick-fil-A and give the rest of the potential tenants a sense of the direction we were going with and who the neighbors would be, it really helped with our leasing. Shortly thereafter, we ended up making a deal with a credit union and Black Bear Diner.”
When choosing which restaurant tenants to bring to a given Brookfield property, Brandon says that many factors are at play, including current food and beverage tenants and available space.
“A lot goes into it. It could be as simple as ‘what categories do we have at the center and where is there a void?,’” he said. “If we don’t have Mexican food, should we be targeting Mexican food as a category in an effort not to cannibalize some of the other tenants that we have? There are only so many chains that can take something large like 10,000 sq. ft., so that might shift where our efforts are going.”
Full-service vs. QSRs
While full-service restaurants are still a key part of the tenant mix at shopping centers, the success of emerging QSRs and fast-casual chains has led to increased competition.
The 2025 Full-Service Reputation Ranking Report from review management platform Chatmeter found that mentions of value at full-service chains from consumers dropped by 18% in 2025 compared to the previous year’s data, showing that full-service restaurants are ceding some ground to competitors. However, investments in digital ordering, loyalty programs and tabletop technology drove higher customer satisfaction for brands like Outback Steakhouse, Chili’s and Applebee’s.
“Multi-location full-service restaurants have struggled to compete with fast food restaurants on value, but we’re starting to see them adapt to customer feedback and drive positive business momentum,” said John Mazur, CEO of Chatmeter, in the July report. “Customers are no longer just seeking a good deal – they are rewarding brands that are delivering menu creativity and operational excellence.”
20% growth expected
Despite increased labor, supplies, and operational costs, restaurant operators of all kinds are optimistic about expanding in the near future. A recent survey from operations management solutions provider Crunchtime Information Systems revealed that on average, operators plan to open 20% more new locations in the next two years than the last two, despite 73% being concerned about economic uncertainty.
Restaurant operators are becoming diligent as they expand, as well. Almost eight-in-10 operators who added at least two new locations within the last two years either replaced or added new tech vendors to better support evolving needs, citing challenges with other vendors during growth, including cost increases, poor support and lack of integration.
Restaurant operators are looking to the future with optimism, and with eateries of all shapes and sizes driving sizeable traffic to shopping centers, commercial development and leasing teams should be feeling positive as well.
“Top-line sales for restaurants are as high as they’ve been any time in the last several years, but profitability is getting squeezed like never before,” said Baker. “When you see a restaurant chain that’s been a good operator in multiple markets, has a high-quality operating system, and is clearly communicating what they are improving, those are the kind of brands that we want in our projects.”
Graphic courtesy of Placer.ai.
Holiday Tech Prep
Agentic AI can help retailers enhance efficiency, shopping experience
By Dan Berthiaume
As artificial intelligence in general becomes more an expected component of the retail enterprise, its latest evolution — agentic AI — offers retailers a major asset to support their holiday retail activities, in both the front and back ends.
Agentic AI builds upon the prescriptive capabilities of generative AI to streamline enterprise workflows even further. Generative AI, which is based on machine learning, can create new content and ideas and create recommendations based on analysis of volumes of data in near-real-time that were previously too big to evaluate.
Agentic AI goes a step beyond by analyzing massive amounts of data in near-realtime and then automatically taking action based on the results. For example, an agentic AI pricing solution could adjust prices based on factors specific to a local store. Or an agentic AI chatbot could automatically issue a customer refund or flag a complaint for fraud depending on its deep-dive analysis of the situation. Three specific areas where retailers should consider embedding agentic AI capabilities now to ensure preparedness for the upcoming holiday season are shopping, product recommendations and supply chain operations.
Shopping
In one significant example of how retailers are streamlining the customer shopping process using agentic AI, Amazon is beta testing a new agentic AI-based shopping feature known as “Buy for Me” in its iOS and Android shopping app for a subset of U.S. customers.
When customers participating in the beta look for branded items in the search bar in the Amazon shopping app, they see relevant results from Amazon and third-party sellers in its store. And in some instances, they see additional relevant products from other stores in a separate section of search results labeled, “Shop brand sites directly.”
Customers can link directly to these sites, or in some cases, will see a link to Buy for
Me. To shop brand sites directly using the feature, customers tap on an item that says Buy for Me in search results listed under “Shop brand sites directly.”
They are then taken to a product detail page within the Amazon shopping app and can tap on the Buy for Me button on the product detail page to request Amazon make the purchase from the brand retailer’s website on their behalf.
Customers are taken to an Amazon checkout page where they confirm order details, including preferred delivery address, applicable taxes and shipping fees, and payment method.
Using agentic AI capabilities, Amazon secures the purchase by providing the customer’s encrypted name, address and payment details to complete the checkout process on the brand’s website.
Product recommendations
In addition to easing the process of purchasing goods, agentic AI also holds potential to help holiday shoppers find the perfect items. Jewelry brand Kendra Scott personalizes its entire omnichannel shopping journey both for specific gift-giving occasions such as the holidays and year-round.
Using agentic personalization, Kendra Scott launched a personal shopping assistant offering a guided shopping experience to its customers in time for the 2024 holiday season.
SMS allows the retailer to engage with customers in real time and guide them to the perfect gift at the best price point.
To deliver upon that vision, Kendra Scott developed plans to ensure customers knew when its biggest sales are live, when popular products are back in stock and how to find the perfect gift with personalized gift guides in two-way journeys.
As for Kendra Scott, it can learn who the customer is shopping for, what their budget is, their favorite style and take that information to provide the perfect gift.
By using agentic AI, Kendra Scott anticipates customer needs and continues to elevate its overall experience. These personalization efforts now provide a 5% to 7% incremental sales increase for the business, according to the company.
Supply chain operations
Finally, agentic AI can also assist retailers in managing peak holiday purchase volumes on the back end. A recent survey of more than 300 global supply chain executives from IBM and Oxford Economics reveals C-level supply chain executives are already utilizing agentic AI and have high future expectations for the technology.
More than six-in-10 (62%) survey respondents said that AI agents embedded into operational workflows accelerate speed to action, hastening decision-making, recommendations and communications.
And three-in-four (76%) respondents said their overall process efficiency will be improved by AI agents that perform repetitive, impact-based tasks at a faster pace than people can.
Amazon Targets Grocery Delivery:
Amazon is setting its sights on online grocery delivery, and the industry needs to take notice.
The retail giant now offers same-day delivery of fresh perishable groceries to more than 1,000 U.S. cities and towns, with plans to expand the initiative to more than 2,300 areas across the country by the end of 2026.
This move followed the launch of a multi-billion-dollar effort to offer faster Prime delivery to more than 4,000 rural communities by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has told shareholders that the company is optimistic about its future in grocery. Amazon does not operate in a vacuum, nor does it take uncalculated risks. Why is the company focusing so heavily on digital grocery delivery? Here are a few key reasons:
Hot market
Quite simply, grocery delivery of online orders is booming. U.S. online grocery sales exceeded $11 billion in August 2025, a 14% year-over-year increase and enough to capture 45% of total monthly online grocery sales, according to the latest Brick Meets Click Grocery Shopper Survey, sponsored by Mercatus. Brick Meets Click data also indicates delivery sales rose 36% year-over-year.
So online grocery delivery is getting big quickly, which leads to the second reason Amazon is taking such a pronounced interest:
Amazon doesn’t dominate the space
It’s no secret that Amazon is generally viewed as the heavyweight champ of U.S.
e-commerce. According to estimates from Upcounting which are based on eMarketer data, Amazon will account for 40.4% of U.S. retail e-commerce sales in 2025, totaling $491.65 billion.
No other company comes close to holding this type of share in the overall e-commerce space. Chief Amazon rival Walmart holds an estimated 6% share of the U.S. online retail market.
However, a look at specific online grocery sales results reveals that while Amazon holds a significant presence, it is not the premier player. eMarketer estimates Amazon holds about 22% of the market, while vertical leader Walmart will hold a 32% share by the end of 2025.
This gives Amazon two reasons to pursue major growth in the online grocery sector, which will largely come from delivery. Online grocery not only offers Amazon more potential for sales gains than other retail sectors where it enjoys the dominant share, it also holds the prospect of improving its competitive positioning against Walmart by taking share from the discount giant.
Expand value of brick-and-mortar grocery
In recent years, Amazon has pulled back its efforts to open a brick-and-mortar channel in retail niches such as apparel. However, the retailer has been actively expanding its physical infrastructure in the grocery space.
This includes efforts to open new stores in its Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh formats. At the beginning of the year, Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods, took on an expanded role leading Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores, indicating Amazon is eyeing growth in the segment.
One way Amazon can help ensure the success of its brick-and-mortar grocery growth efforts is to expand the ROI by making physical stores delivery hubs for its digital grocery business. This produces the added benefit of also streamlining the delivery process.
Dan Berthiaume dberthiaume@chainstoreage.com
Top 20
From payments to facilities management, store operations continue to evolve
By Dan Berthiaume
ChainStoreAge is celebrating its centennial year with a look at how 20 areas of store operations have been transformed by technology-driven innovations during the past 100 years.
From human resources and store security to checkouts and facilities maintenance, nearly every faucet of retail store operations has been transformed by the deployment of sophisticated digitized systems that have reshaped how stores operate and how retailers interact with suppliers as well as customers.
Financial Operations
As long as there has been a retail industry, there have been financial operations to manage. In today’s retail environment, companies must manage financial planning and forecasting, cash flow, accounts payable and receivable, and sales, to name just a few areas.
Over time, retailers have gone from manually managing all these business-critical functions to using spreadsheets to, most recently, streamlining financial operations with leading-edge cloud, automation and AI technologies.
For example, retailers can now utilize AI to enhance the automation of purchase order matching solution by
determining when slight differences in quantities or descriptions on purchase orders are acceptable based on specific business rules. Month-end closing also becomes much simpler and less time- and labor-intensive.
Order Fulfillment
Similar to financial operations, retailers have always dealt with fulfilling customer orders. Order fulfillment has become an increasingly complex process since the dawn of e-commerce in the 1990s and even more so since the omnichannel model emerged in the early 2000s. Today, customer orders come from channels including social media sites,
third-party marketplaces and mobile apps, requiring solutions and strategies that can effectively direct inventory from the appropriate location to fill an order from any of these channels. In addition, brick-and-mortar stores now often serve as fulfillment centers for omnichannel purchase methods such as buy-onlinepickup-in-store, curbside pickup and ship-from-store.
Merchandising
Merchandising is a core retail practice whose roots date back to the earliest marketplaces and grew to include scientific approaches to store layout, window dressing, shelving, lighting and fixtures, and branding.
In more recent years, retailers have been applying advanced technology to merchandising, such as mining customer data to determine what products should be stocked at what levels on a regional, local or even store-by-store basis.
In addition, planograms that dictate store layouts have evolved into electronic documents that can be quickly updated, and compliance can now also be tracked digitally.
Other examples of retailers using leading-edge technology for merchandising include visualizing store layouts with augmented reality, predicting customer demand with AI, and tracking in-season performance with AI and ML to make any needed adjustments.
Human Resources
Starting with punch card systems which were in wide use by the 1920s and were not fully phased out till the 1980s, retailers have automated and streamlined human resources (HR) management.
HR systems gradually evolved into running on computerized and mainframe-based platforms, and then migrated to cloud, AI and analytical solutions in the 1990s and beyond. Now, retailers
Order fulfillment has become an increasingly complex process since the dawn of e-commerce in the 1990s.
can leverage enterprise HR solutions that manage tasks such as payroll, absence and time tracking, and scheduling, using analytics to help determine what employees or situations may need extra attention.
Retailers can also manage functions like recruiting and onboarding, expenses, and benefits, all on a single enterprise HR platform. In addition, employees can obtain customized mobile or digital access to manage tasks like viewing pay slips, requesting time off, making changes to tax withholdings, and reporting expenses.
Store Security
Starting with locks and guards and expanding to include more sophisticatedmeasures such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems, retail security has evolved to keep pace with technology and the changing nature of crime.Among the biggest game-changers: the mid-1960s introduction of electronic article surveillance, which has been constantly updated and and now provides more intelligent inventory management to reduce shrinkage and stop thieves.
With the help of new technologies, retailers have moved beyond reactive surveillance methods to embrace a more integrated, data-driven strategy that allows for more proactive security measures. These include AI-poweredsystems that analyze data and detect anomalies in real time and advanced video analytics.
Digital Security
On the digital side, retailers have been employing a wide variety of security solutions to protect their online operations since the 1990s. These have evolved from basic viruses and firewalls to more complex measures that include biometric sign-in and tokenization of sensitive customer data such as passwords, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers. Also, retailers are migrating enterprise systems to managed cloud environments equipped with the latest cybersecurity capabilities and protocols.
Customer Service/Help Desk
The customer service “help desk” began with an actual in-store desk where personnel would respond to customer inquiries. In the 1960s, large retailers began opening
call centers where customers could call with questions and complaints that would be resolved by live phone operators. Retailers began managing call center operations with software in the 1970s and 1980s. During the 1990s and 2000s, contact points expanded to include email, SMS text and online chat, with many retailers partially or fully automating customer service help desks to automatically resolve lower-level issues and route higher-level issues to human associates.
In the past few years, retailers have taken advantage of leading-edge generative and agentic AI technologies to provide fully automated chatbots which can independently resolve even high-level customer complaints, including making decisions such as issuing refunds.
Inventory Management
While retailers have always used a variety of strategies and tools to manage their inventories, modern inventory management began with the first computer-based systems designed to track merchandise flow from source to shelf in the 1950s. With the advent of UPC barcodes in the early 1970s, retailers gained a more accurate view of where inventory was located in their supply chains, from source to shelf.
In the years since, retailers have applied a variety of cloud, RFID and AI technologies to their inventory management workflows. For example, AI algorithms can enable retailers to mine historical data to help accurately predict localized product demand and better forward store merchandise.
Supply Chain Automation
General Motors’ introduction of industrial robots to its assembly lines in the early 1960s ushered in the age of modern supply chain automation, with robotic machinery becoming commonplace in manufacturing plants and distribution centers across industries by the 1970s. Today, supply chain automation encompasses the use of next-gen AI, robotic, and Internet of Things technologies in the distribution center and beyond. Leaders in this area include Amazon, which developed its first corporate robot in 2021 and has been advancing the development and deployment of warehouse robots. including bipedal humanoid models. Another leader is Walmart, which is re-engineering its global supply chain with real-time AI and automation, are leading retailers in this area.
POS/Payments
In the 1970s, technology companies including NCR, IBM and RCA began releasing the first digital cash registers, which had become known as point-of-sale or POS systems. Digital POS terminals had electronic displays and software that could be programmed to perform transactional and accounting functions.
Networked POS systems, where all the POS terminals in a store ran off a single server, began appearing in the early 1980s and had become a standard fixture in retail stores by the early 1990s. Networked POS terminals offered advantages such as streamlined software updates, batch processing of daily sales, and connectivity with other enterprise systems such as inventory management and CRM.
The networked POS model enabled the development of modern POS architecture, which includes mobile checkout and self-service kiosks, as well as contactless card payments and digital wallet solutions.
Workforce Management
In the 1980s, the emergence of dedicated workforce management technology vendors enabled retailers to digitalize and centralize activities such as time and attendance, scheduling, and forecasting. In recent years, connected workforce platforms that unify task management, communications, incident management
Store security has grown increasingly sophisticated as technology and crime — has evolve
OPERATIONS
and employee self-service in a single solution have emerged.
Meanwhile, retail management can leverage connected workforce technology to offer associates flexible scheduling options, automate and streamline training and onboarding, and provide associates immediate digital access to store policies and procedures, product information and omnichannel inventory data.
Enterprise Resource Planning
Enterprise resource planning, or ERP, is a software platform that integrates all the various operational functions of an organization, such as inventory, merchandising, finance, HR, CRM, and product lifecycle management. Gartner is generally credited with creating the term in the early 1990s, but the roots of the concept go back to material requirements planning systems that retailers began using to comprehensively manage all their inventory processes in the 1960s.
During the past 35 years or so of modern ERP development, the evolution of advanced data processing and artificial intelligence capabilities have turned ERP solutions into real-time data engines that provide unified enterprise visibility, predictive analytics, alerts of potential issues, and streamlined decision-making across all functions of the business.
Product Lifecycle Management
Product lifecycle management (PLM) is a holistic approach to product development that encompasses the entire development of a good from initial conception to final release in the marketplace. By the mid1990s, it had spread to industries including CPG, consumer electronics and apparel.
Modern PLM is frequently based on AI technology and generally includes enterprise solutions such as product development, design, pricing, merchandising, and marketing.
Reverse Logistics
Returns have always been an issue for retailers, but the emergence of practices like “bracketing” (customers intentionally buy multiple variations of the same product and return all but one) and consumer expectations for liberal return policies are contributing to their growth.
In the 1990s, retailers began using the term “reverse logistics” to describe strategies and solutions that help them streamline the acceptance, processing, and resale or disposal of customer returns, as well as refunds. These include partnering with third-party specialists, using physical stores as hubs for drop-off and initial processing of returned items, and providing for direct shipment of returns from a customer’s home to a processing center.
Pricing and Promotions
The advent of electronic shelf label (ESL) technology in U.S. stores in the mid-1990s enabled retailers to begin centralizing digital price and promotional shelf-level content for automated display.
ESLs replace traditional paper shelf labels with an electronic label that typically uses liquid-crystal display (LCD) or e-paper technology to graphically display information such as price and are wirelessly networked to a central server, meaning retailers can automatically update ESL price and promotional content in real time and easily track what information is being displayed on any shelf.
Compliance
Compliance solutions help retailers manage adherence to a wide variety of regulatory standards, as well as voluntary efforts such as the large-scale commitments to reduce carbon output made by leading Tier I retailers such as Amazon and Walmart. Today, all manner of cloud, AI and automated systems are available to help retailers navigate a myriad of local, state, national and international regulations, as well as industry and internal standards. These can include regulations and standards for ethical labor, sourcing and supply chain practices, environmental safety and responsibility, and more.
From streamlining inventory management to optimizing facilities management, IoT (Internet of Things) technology has transformed retail store operations.
