If you want a one-line read on where retail real estate sits this morning: the survivors are opening, the strugglers are pruning, and grocery-anchored centers keep doing exactly what they were built to do — print steady checks. Here is what crossed the wire over the last 24 hours and what it means for landlords and tenants in our space.
Store Openings & Expansion
The 2026 growth story remains concentrated in value and convenience. Industry trackers still peg roughly 5,500 new store openings for the year — up about 4.4% year over year — led by Dollar General, Aldi, and Tractor Supply. That trio is the spine of suburban and exurban retail demand, and for owners of well-located strip and supermarket-anchored centers, these are the credit tenants underwriting today’s lease-up.
On the specialty side: True Religion is adding four stores through the balance of 2026 — Indianapolis; Brandon, FL; Sacramento, CA; and Cherry Hill, NJ — pushing its U.S. fleet to 61. Madewell debuts three locations this summer, including Sag Harbor, NY, its fourth on Long Island — a market we know intimately. And Lululemon planted its flag in Greece with its first Athens store.
Store Closings & Restructuring
Closures are real but moderating. The latest estimates put 2026 at roughly 7,900 store closures — the lowest in three years, with GameStop, Francesca’s, and Walgreens leading the count. The headline names:
- Macy’s confirmed 66 underperforming closures, on the way to about 150 locations by year-end under its “Bold New Chapter” plan.
- Kroger will close roughly 60 supermarkets over the next 18 months — worth watching closely given the grocery-anchor implications for affected centers.
- Dollar Tree has about 75 closures in motion through 2026.
- The Target–Ulta Beauty shop-in-shop (~600 stores) winds down in August 2026.
- Torrid has now closed 171 stores in its optimization program; Guess is shedding underperforming North American locations; and At Home closures are accelerating in bankruptcy.
The CRE takeaway: a Kroger or Macy’s box going dark is a backfill opportunity, not just a vacancy. Grocery, medical, fitness, and off-price are all hunting for exactly this kind of well-located space.
Retail Earnings — Publicly Traded Names
Q1 results skewed positive, and the pattern is instructive for where tenant demand is headed:
Citi Trends Q1 sales to $230.9M, comps up 13.9%, net income $7.8M — off-price firing on all cylinders.
- TJX posted its biggest EPS beat since August 2021, with comps up 6%.
- Home Depot reported Q1 sales of $41.8B, up 4.8% year over year.
- Ollie’s Bargain Outlet: net sales up 14%, EPS up 19%, and raised its full-year outlook.
- Dick’s Sporting Goods: net sales up 62.7% to $5.16B, lifted by the Foot Locker acquisition.
- Abercrombie & Fitch: net sales up 1.5% to $1.11B.
Off-price and value home-improvement are the clear winners — and those are space-takers, not space-shedders.
The Capital Markets Angle
Grocery-anchored retail keeps trading. Asana Partners made Orange County’s biggest play in a year with a $151M purchase of Seacliff Village, a fully leased power center. A grocery-anchored center west of Chicago sold for north of $54M — double its 2021 price after redevelopment and re-tenanting. And a public-private partnership broke ground on a Publix-anchored center in an underserved Atlanta neighborhood. The thesis we’ve championed for years — necessity-based, grocery-anchored real estate — remains the most financeable product in the sector.
- CNBC, “Here are the retailers with the most store openings and closures planned for 2026,” Feb. 2, 2026. Link
- Chain Store Age, “Store Expansion News: June update,” June 2026. Link
- The Street, “Major retailers plan sweeping store closures for 2026.” Link
- Retail Dive, “Guess to close underperforming stores in North America.” Link
- SEC Form 8-K, Citi Trends Inc., Q1 FY2026. Link
- SEC Form 8-K, Home Depot, Inc., Q1 FY2026. Link
- SEC Form 8-K, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet Holdings, Q1 FY2026. Link
- CoStar, “Construction starts on Publix-anchored shopping center near Atlanta,” June 16, 2026. Link
President & CEO, Schuckman Realty Inc.
Ken Schuckman is President & CEO of Schuckman Realty Inc., a retail-focused commercial real estate brokerage founded by Stanley Schuckman in 1978 in Hicksville, NY. With 30+ years of experience specializing in supermarket-anchored shopping centers, Ken is a CoStar Power Broker and member of X-Team Retail Advisors. He is also Co-Founder & Principal of BTF Capital Fund. SchuckmanRealty.com