Schuckman News / Blog

QVC exits Chapter 11 with $5.3 billion less debt, Walmart rolls out its sharpest back-to-school pricing since 2019, and Salomon lands at Foot Locker. Three headlines from this morning – and one consistent message for shopping center owners.

Kroger’s $1.65 billion acquisition of Giant Eagle is the first major grocery deal since the Albertsons merger collapsed — and Aldi is answering with $9 billion. For shopping center owners, an anchor changing hands reshapes credit, co-tenancy and dark-store risk. Here’s what to check in your leases now.

In 2026, U.S. store openings are outrunning closings for the first time since the pandemic — and grocery, discount, and off-price retailers like Aldi and Burlington are backfilling the second-generation boxes their fallen competitors left behind.

A $75M Family Dollar sale-leaseback, Aldi’s 180-store push, and a two-speed store count all point to the same thing: quality necessity-anchored retail space is scarce, and capital is paying for certainty.

The retail apocalypse was a misdiagnosis. Shopping centers didn’t die — bad tenant mix did. With e-commerce plateaued near 17% and retail vacancy at a 20-year low, curation toward grocery, medical, fitness and chef-driven dining is the turnaround.

The institutional capital markets have stopped debating grocery-anchored retail — they’ve decided. JLL’s $11B/+42% year, CBRE’s 85% investor preference, new nine-figure funds, and Casey’s record run, through a broker’s lens.