The retail leasing story in 2026 is simple. Value grocers and necessity retailers are taking space. Everyone else is fighting for what is left.

New national data confirms what shopping-center owners already feel on the ground. Store openings have overtaken closings this year, and the expansions are concentrated among value-oriented and necessity-based retailers. Fewer bankruptcies are slowing the closure wave that defined 2025. The tenants doing the leasing are the ones people visit every week.

Grocery leads that list. Aldi is the clearest example. The discount chain is spending $9 billion through 2028 and plans to open more than 180 new stores across 31 states by the end of this year. Its target is roughly 3,200 U.S. locations by 2028, up from more than 2,600 today. Aldi did close a small number of underperforming stores this year, both in Wisconsin, but the direction is growth, not retreat.

Whole Foods is moving too, from the other end of the price ladder. Its small-format Daily Shop concept is expanding into three new markets and continues to grow in New York, including a new location at 509 Third Avenue in Murray Hill. The format is smaller, denser, and built for daily trips. It fits urban and infill sites that a full supermarket cannot.

What it means for center owners

The lesson is not new, but the data keeps proving it. A supermarket anchor drives traffic no other tenant can match. That traffic supports the small-shop rents around it. When grocers expand at this pace, well-located anchored centers get more demand, better renewals, and stronger pricing.

This is the core of what we do at Schuckman Realty. We have spent decades on supermarket-anchored shopping centers because they hold value through every cycle. The 2026 numbers back that up. The tenants that fill space and pay rent are the ones tied to weekly need, not discretionary spending.

For owners, the move is to protect the anchor and lease around strength. For buyers, grocery-anchored centers remain the safest entry point in retail. The expansion plans on the table today tell you where the rent growth will be tomorrow.