January 22, 2025
As noted last week, JOANN filed Chapter 11 for the second time in a year. The Company plans to use the process to continue marketing its assets, a process that began in December 2024. It has filed motions to establish bidding procedures, including for potential going concern bids, along with a 'stalking horse' bid from Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, LLC, for the right to liquidate all of the Debtors' assets as it seeks the greatest value maximizing alternative, including liquidation. Lenders who took control of the Company during its prior bankruptcy case said the Company's proposed 30-day timeline for its bid process would make a liquidation "way more likely." See JOANN's store locations in the map below.
Gordon Brothers has announced that is marketing 495 Big Lots leases across the U.S. These represent locations that Variety Wholesalers has not shown interest in buying (200 to 400 stores that Variety plans to operate under the Big Lots brand). Gordon Brothers noted there has already been interest from several dozen potential buyers, including one looking to acquire a group of 150 leases. Gordon Brothers noted that all offers are due no later than January 24, 2025.
According to our POI data, Big Lots began the year with 899 stores, compared to 1,429 a year ago. As the map shows, our Retail Openings & Closings tracker shows roughly 300 closures to occur in early 2025, with most slated for February closure. The state with the most slated closures is Florida with 30.
H-E-B purchased a nearly 10-acre property within the city limits of Dallas, TX where it plans to build its first namesake store there. H-E-B entered the Dallas market in 2001 with its first Central Market store in the region, and now there are 12 H-E-B stores, six Central Market locations, and one Joe V's Smart Shop in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.
Meanwhile, Kroger acquired a 14-acre property in Little Elm, TX (North Texas). Target will be opening a 225,000 square-foot store nearby, and Sprouts is also developing in the area. H-E-B owns land directly west of the future Target. The below Retail Openings & Closings map shows where each of these retailers is slated to open in the greater Dallas MSA.
Private equity firm KKR & Co is reportedly considering a stake in a proposal led by the founding family of Seven & i Holdings Co. to take the Company private, joining Apollo Global Management’s interest in committing up to $9.50 billion to the record buyout bid. KKR is likely to provide some financing for the buyout, but plans are at very initial stages and a deal may or may not materialize.
Led by the Ito family and Itochu Corp, the operator of FamilyMart convenience stores in Japan, the management buyout proposal would involve about $25.70 billion in equity with the rest to come from banking financing for a transaction worth approximately $58 billion. The potential deal is seen as a contingency should Alimentation Couche-Tard escalate its pursuit of Seven & i with a hostile tender offer.
The below map shows 7-Eleven's locations nationwide.
The information contained in this newsletter is compiled from sources which RetailStat, LLC (“RetailStat”), does not control and unless indicated is not verified. Its contents are not to be divulged. RetailStat, its principals, and writers do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or timeliness of the information provided nor do they assume responsibility for failure to report any matter omitted or withheld because of their negligence.
