Big V Launches New Investment Platform: Big V Direct
Offers accredited investors the chance to invest in institutional quality retail assets
“We're proud of our multi-generational track record of success, and we remain committed to creating lasting wealth for our investors through our deep expertise in the space. With Big V Direct, that track record is now open to a wider group of investors with an invitation to invest where you shop.” - CEO Jeff Rosenberg
Source: Retail Dive, Chain Store Age, Nation's Restaurant News
The parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond has changed its name once again, they are now known as Neighborhood Intelligence. The name reflects the company’s ambition to offer a variety of home related products from flooring to insurance. Neighborhood Intelligence recently went on an acquisition spree that has included The Container Store, Lumber Liquidators, Closet Works, and Fathom (a real estate brokerage firm). In addition to the new name, the company is moving its headquarters from Utah (where it began as Overstock.com) to Nashville
Costco is going off grid at its newest distribution center in Port St Lucie, Florida. The company has partnered with Trinity Energy on a solution that includes solar panels and battery storage that is expected to power the entire facility’s needs, helping to insulate the warehouse from power outages and rising electricity prices.
Culver’s is continuing its nationwide expansion after decades as a Midwestern staple with 50-55 new stores including growth into New York, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma as part of its pipeline. The company announced an agreement with Armada Supply Chain Solutions to help support their continued growth into new territories.
Dutch Bros announced the purchase of bankrupt fast casual restaurant Salad and Go, a 65 unit drive thru chain with locations primarily in the Southwest. All locations closed as Salad and Go on August 4th and will reopen sometime in 2027 under the Dutch Bros banner.
Hot Topic and its subsidiary brands entered into an agreement to be purchased for $350 million by Spencer Spirit Holdings, the parent company of both ancillary income superstars Spirit Halloween and mall staple Spencer’s Gifts. The combined company will have over 3,000 stores, though Hot Topic will continue to operate independently under its existing management.
The fine people of Cleveland will finally get an Ikea store, nearly 20 years after Liz Lemon (Tina Fey’s 30 Rock character) nearly moved to the city in part because of a rumor that Ikea was opening there. The new 80,000 square foot store will open in 2027 and is located in Westlake, Ohio at Crocker Park – an award winning lifestyle center. Ikea has 7 other locations it has announced will open between now and the first quarter of 2027.
Nordstrom Rack will open 20 more stores by November 5th. The new locations are scattered throughout every region of the country. They have also announced the first 7 locations planned for 2027 as they get closer to 400 stores nationwide.
With Saks department stores relegated to history, one mall landlord is seeing a real windfall. On a recent earnings call Simon Property Group detailed how they are on track to increase the former Saks stores’ rent by more than double, while reducing tenant improvement costs by 12%
Sleep Number is getting new ownership after filing a pre-packaged bankruptcy last month. Sleep Country, Canada’s largest mattress retailer, has bought the firm for $702 million. No word on how this impacts one of Sleep Number’s biggest investors, Travis Kelce, who owned 5% of the company and had an agreement to appear in ads over the next three years.
Sprouts Farmers Market will open a record number of new stores in 2026, with 42 locations currently planned. The company also told investors on a recent earnings call that they have 110 executed leases in their pipeline and 155 approved locations. Sprouts has been entering Midwestern markets with recent openings in Chicagoland and Columbus, Ohio.
The Big View
Some retailers have begun using consumer data to institute what’s known as “surveillance pricing”. While the practice has been pretty standard in ecommerce for some time, now retailers are looking at ways to use facial recognition and other privacy invasive methods to establish the practice at brick & mortar stores. In the last year 33 states from across the political spectrum have taken up bills looking to curb or outright ban the practice. Learn more in this story from Retail Dive >>
There’s a lot of misperceptions when it comes to Gen Z, and while I can’t clear them all up in this newsletter (partly because I’m an old), Retail Brew has done a good job of sorting fact from fiction when it comes to their spending and shopping patterns. Read More >>
Video of the Month: Best Buy has a new incoming CEO who will be tasked with turning around the country’s leading electronics retailer in the age of AI. One strategy the company will be rolling out are new, smaller store sizes fit to different markets. CNBC goes inside this strategy in this video. Watch here >>
By the Numbers
From the Research Desk
Those of us of a certain age might remember Fotomat. It was basically a small hut that sat in a parking lot where you could drop off your photographic film to be developed and picked up at a later date. After the demise of film photography on a mass scale, many shopping centers were left with these tiny reminders of a time long past. Flash forward to 2026 and tiny outparcel buildings are making a comeback, only this time people are pulling up for coffee. Between the school drop-off and the office parking lot, a new American ritual has taken hold: the double-lane drive-thru coffee run. Chains like Dutch Bros, 7 Brew, and Scooter's Coffee have gone from regional curiosities to some of the fastest-growing retail concepts in the country, and the real estate world is scrambling to keep up.
The growth numbers are hard to overstate. No chain in the 2026 Datassential 500 grew sales faster than 7 Brew, which posted 139% systemwide sales growth and 87.5% unit growth in 2025 alone. 7 Brew's sales jumped from $502 million in 2024 to nearly $1.2 billion the following year.
Dutch Bros, the elder statesman of the category, isn't slowing down either: the chain had 538 shops in 12 states at the end of 2021 and had grown to more than 1,100 by March 2026. The company delivered record average unit volumes of $2.1 million in 2025 and plans to open at least 181 new locations in 2026, with a target of 2,029 locations by 2029.
In most retail concepts, you want more dwell time to generate incremental sales; however, in drive-thru coffee world, speed is of the essence. Time spent at a 7 Brew stand averaged just 8.7 minutes in the third quarter, versus 10 minutes at Dutch Bros and 13.8 minutes at Starbucks. That efficiency, paired with drive-up and walk-up flexibility, has made these stands a fixture of the daily commute rather than a destination trip. Roughly 73% of consumers drink coffee or tea multiple times a week, making it one of the highest-frequency habits any restaurant format can build a business around, and chains have leaned into customization. Drive-thru coffee brands launched 1,221 beverage limited-time offers in 2025 alone. Meanwhile, energy drinks have grown 186.8% on coffee chain menus over the past four years, a sign of how aggressively these brands are chasing new beverage occasions beyond the basic cup of coffee.
These chains have essentially reinvented the footprint math of retail real estate. Drive-thru-only coffee kiosks run between 500 and 1,000 square feet, which means lower construction costs, lower occupancy expenses, and a bigger cushion between sales and rent obligations. That small footprint lets operators tuck stands onto outparcels and infill sites that larger restaurants can't use, and landlords have taken notice: coffee drive-thrus have become one of the hottest single-tenant net lease product types in the country. Dutch Bros properties have traded at cap rates below 5.25%, with Starbucks deals selling faster than at any point since 2021.
Retail brokers describe drive-thru coffee as sitting in a category of its own, distinct from typical QSR: a $5 to $6 coffee purchase tends to hold its place in a household budget even when broader restaurant spending contracts, and Dutch Bros reported a 5.4% rise in customer visits in the fourth quarter of 2025, far outpacing the decline in overall restaurant traffic.
Do the new coffee chains represent a paradigm shift in a segment that has been dominated for decades by Starbucks and Dunkin? While Starbucks has responded by reinvesting in the interior of its cafes to be a differentiator compared to the more limited experience offered by these upstarts, it's also been prioritizing site selection that allows for drive-thru service, so it clearly sees this new competition as something to pay attention to. The question is whether or not this influx of new coffee options will be a passing fad like the Fotomat.
Song of the Month: Robyn Hitchcock has been gifting the world with his surrealist take on rock & roll for nearly 50 years through his work with The Soft Boys, the Egyptians, The Venus 3 and solo. At age 73, he hasn’t slowed down. Not only is he about to release his second book, Stranded in the Future, he’s also just released his 25th studio album, The Confuser, recorded in his adopted home of Nashville and recorded with a host of Music City’s top notch session players. The sound harkens back to his classic 80s and 90s albums as can be heard here on the first single “I Am This Thing” Listen Here >>
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