Simon settles suit with Starbucks over closing Teavana stores
The Indianapolis-based mall owner had sued Starbucks, attempting to stop the coffee giant from closing dozens of Teavana locations at its properties.
The Indianapolis-based mall owner had sued Starbucks, attempting to stop the coffee giant from closing dozens of Teavana locations at its properties.
Department store chain Macy’s Inc. announced plans Thursday morning to close seven more stores nationally, including one in Indiana.
A sturdy office sector, hot industrial demand and some steamy retail categories are expected to boost Indy’s commercial real estate market in 2018.
The Indianapolis-based retail real estate giant is spending $1 billion annually to upgrade its high-end properties, including adding splashy non-retail features like housing and hotels.
The company said it hasn’t lost faith in brick-and-mortar retail but now is broadening its development focus in a quest to continue increasing the value of its real estate holdings.
A Marion Superior Court judge has granted the Indianapolis-based mall giant’s request for a temporary injunction, at least for now preventing Starbucks from closing 77 Teavana stores in its properties nationwide.
Big downtown real estate projects are expected to add that much room to the retail inventory, and advocacy group Downtown Indy is jumping in to help drum up interest.
The National Retail Federation is projecting holiday retail sales will increase 4 percent over last year, to $682 billion, on stronger employment and rising incomes.
Bon-Ton, which operates 260 department stores under several names across 24 states, has just one store in Indianapolis, but that store is the only anchor in Circle Centre mall.
GGP, formerly known as General Growth Properties, is the second-largest shopping mall company behind Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group. Simon tried to acquire GGP in 2010.
Some of the suppliers for Bon-Ton Stores Inc.—the parent of Circle Centre’s only anchor store—are scaling back shipments and asking to be paid sooner in order to protect themselves from potential losses.
Stock in Finish Line Inc. rose 6.5 percent Wednesday after an analyst at Susquehanna Financial said he believes a buyout of the Indianapolis-based retailer is likely.
The company said Wednesday that it wants to shift focus to its growing brands Old Navy and Athleta while jettisoning hundreds of stores under the Gap and Banana Republic flags.
Fragrance seller Perfumania has filed for bankruptcy protection, and plans to close 65 of its 230 stores as it focuses more on selling online.
Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, the country’s largest shopping mall operator, says in the lawsuit that Starbucks is breaching its leases by closing the Teavana stores and “shirking its contractual obligations.”
E-commerce giant Amazon plans to build a massive warehouse outside Cleveland on the site of a closed shopping center that was once owned by Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group. The former mall was once billed as the world’s largest.
A fresh round of sales declines at Macy’s Inc. and Kohl’s Corp., though less severe than Wall Street had feared, is renewing concerns that the department-store industry can’t pull out of a years-long slump.
Four of Teavana’s 379 locations—which will all shut down over the coming year—are in Indianapolis-area malls.
Some portfolio managers believe the market is painting the retail sector with too broad a brush. Yes, they say, many malls will go under, as will many retailers. But developers focusing on high-end properties—a description that fits both Simon and Kite—should fare just fine.
A store that specializes in denim, a new eatery and a souvenir shop have set their sights on the downtown shopping center.