DRE’s Richmond office handles the leasing of a Chico’s store in La Promenade in Virginia Beach.  Chico’s joins Williams Sonoma, Talbots, DM Williams and Jos A. Bank in the center.

Retail Remains Active in Richmond

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA –  The Richmond retail market is continuing to heat up.  The local office of Divaris Real Estate has been given tenant assignments for several major retail clients, including Boscov’s Department Store, PETsMART, Kohl’s, Best Buy, Cost Plus World Market, Ross Dress for Less, Atlanta Bread Company and Chico’s.  Each of these major retailers is seeking new sites to continue their market expansion programs into greater Richmond, central and western Virginia. 

On the landlord-representative side, several Richmond area shopping centers have achieved 100 percent occupancy due to Divaris’ efforts.  Colonial Square Shopping Center, a Ukrops-anchored center, obtained 100 percent occupancy last year with the leasing of three spaces to Color-Tyme Rent to Own and etelsuperstore.com.   Currently, lease renewals have been obtained from Dollar Tree and Dollar General.   Consequently, DRE’s Terry Earnest negotiated the sale of an outparcel to the Bank of McKenney for $775,000 on behalf of the owners of Colonial Square Shopping Center. 

Earnest has also fully leased Centralia Crossing Shopping Center in Chester, Virginia, with two new leases and the renewal of Movie Gallery.   Both Centralia Crossing and Colonial Square shopping centers are recent acquisitions by The Berman-Kapplar Group from Northern Virginia.   The centers are managed and leased by Divaris Real Estate. 

Market Square Shopping Center in the Brandermill area of south Richmond has also achieved 100 percent occupancy with new leases for Tuesday Morning and Consumer Leasing.   Earnest is the leasing agent on this property.  In 2001, Market Square was sold by Divaris to local owner Joe Craig.  Divaris represented the seller, Crown Life, in the transaction.

This year, major transactions were completed with tenants represented by Divaris as well as with retailers in shopping centers leased by Divaris.   Opening its first western Virginia store is Ross Dress for Less.  It joins Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Staples and Michael’s in a new power center being developed by AIG Baker of Birmingham, Alabama.  Ross plans to continue its expansion with further locations in Richmond in 2003/2004.   Three additional Divaris tenants to gain outlets in the metropolitan Richmond and western Virginia markets are Chico's, DOTS and Dollar General. 

Chico’s FAS

Chico's FAS opened its first store in western Virginia with a lease for 2,933 square feet of retail space in Boonsboro Shopping Center in Lynchburg. Chico's joins Talbots, Jasmines, Meriwether's Restaurant and R. Coffee in the center. 

In 1983, when Marvin and Helene Gralnick opened Chico's, it was a tiny boutique on Sanibel Island, Florida, specializing in cotton sweaters and Mexican folk art.  Now headquartered in Fort Myers, Florida, Chico's has grown to over 300 stores in 38 states.  This unique women's clothing retailer has made a name for itself with private-label designs, personal service and easy-to-pack travelwear with natural fabric and comfortable-yet-chic tailoring.

Located in upscale malls and lifestyle centers, Chico's aims to attract the sophisticated professional woman on the go. The stores, which average 2,200 square feet, have comfortable, well-to-do, living-room style interiors. Pleasant lighting, easy chairs, antique tables and hardwood floors make customers feel at home. 

DRE represents Chico's FAS in its expansion program throughout Virginia and West Virginia.  Divaris has assisted Chico's in opening seven locations for a total of over 18,000 square feet throughout the Carolinas and Virginia.   Brett Womack, along with Debbie Wake, assistant vice president of retail sales and leasing for DRE's Richmond office, represented Chico’s in the negotiations for the Lynchburg lease.

Chico's also opened a 2,655-square-foot store in La Promenade Shopping Center, located at 1860 Laskin Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia.  Chico's FAS joins Talbots, Williams-Sonoma, Jos A. Bank and DM Williams in La Promenade.  This lease was handled by DRE’s Wake and Womack.  Chico’s currently has targeted Williamsburg and Roanoke for 2003 openings, and will open its second Richmond location at Forest City Enterprise’s Short Pump Town Center.

DOTS

A cost-conscious alternative to women’s fashion has also entered the metropolitan Richmond market.  DOTS has leased 5,000 square feet of retail space in Southgate Shopping Center in Colonial Heights, Virginia. DOTS joins PETsMART, Staples, Michaels and Kmart in the shopping center. DRE's Debbie Wake represented the tenant in the negotiations.

DOTS, a women's fashion apparel store, has been in business for over 12 years.  With nearly 300 stores, DOTS merchandise is priced at $10 or less.  Divaris Real Estate is the exclusive tenant representative for DOTS throughout Charlotte, North Carolina, and Richmond and Hampton Roads, Virginia. 

Headquartered in Solon, Ohio, DOTS is a privately owned, national women's clothing store that carries career, casual and intimate apparel in all sizes. The 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot stores can be found in large shopping centers with major value chains and supermarkets as anchors.
 

Dollar General

Fredericksburg, Virginia, gained a big box tenant with Dollar General’s leasing of 9,100 square feet of retail space in the Divaris-leased Woodlawn Village Shopping Center. Woodlawn Village is anchored by Food Lion, Movie Time and Little Caesar's. 

Brenda Martin and Debbie Wake, retail sales and leasing associates in DRE's Richmond office, represented the landlord, Konover Properties Trust, in the Fredericksburg Dollar General deal. 

Dollar General has also signed a lease for 10,069 square feet of retail space in the Divaris-leased Market Square, located at 3303 West Main Street in Danville, Virginia.  Dollar General joins Food Lion, H&R Block, and World of Pets. Brenda Martin represented the landlord, Woodlawn Village Associates, LP in the Danville lease. 

Dollar General is a publicly-traded retailer that sells consumable basics and general merchandise, all with even dollar price points.  Most items sell for less than $5.  The first store opened in 1955 in Kentucky and now Dollar General operates over 5,900 stores in 27 states from its new headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.   Seven distribution centers, located in Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia, serve the strip center sites and freestanding stores across the middle and southeastern United States. 

Dollar General is one of the fastest growing retailers in the country.  More than half of the over 5,900 stores were opened in the last five years!   The company prides itself on making quick real estate decisions, averaging less than 90 days from initial site proposal to lease execution. 

Kent Cardwell of DRE’s Richmond office is the exclusive tenant representative for Dollar General in central and western Virginia.  The stores average from 7,000 to 8,500 square feet with preferred frontage from 50 to 100 feet.  Site preferences for Dollar General stores are junior anchor positions in first generation space.  Both strip centers and freestanding locations are considered as long as they have a minimum of five parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of selling space, clear visibility from a major intersection and easy stock access in the rear of the building.   Desired markets include small areas with populations below 25,000, or medium markets with 25,000 to 75,000 inhabitants and a median household income under $35,000. 

As a result, some of the locations are in centers that some other retailers might not have targeted.   This, however, provides the landlords of these centers the possibility of leasing space to a national credit tenant.  Its 10 million weekly customers are generally from lower and lower-middle income households.  Dollar General’s principle of staying close to the people it serves and to its employees has proven to be a profitable venture.  Net sales during the first quarter of 2002 were $1.39 billion, up over 15.5 percent compared to $1.2 billion in 2001.