Dollar General Corp., Saks Inc.’s Off 5th and Denver-based Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. are among the discounters and fast-food chains set to expand in 2010 as U.S. consumers embrace a “new frugality,” according to commercial-property broker Colliers International.
Low-cost restaurants and retailers, including Papa John’s International Inc. and TJX Cos., are planning to add stores following the loss of more than 4 million U.S. jobs last year and a reduction in consumer spending, Boston-based Colliers said Monday in its 2010 “Retail Trends & Opportunities” report.
“The ‘New Frugality’ is here for at least five years,” Garrick Brown, national retail research director for Colliers, said in the report. “Necessity and off-price retailers will continue to fare best.”
Last year’s rise in unemployment, which followed a loss of 3.1 million jobs in 2008, hurt retailers and their landlords as consumers curtailed spending. The National Retail Federation predicts that retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, will increase 2.5 percent this year following a 2.5 percent drop last year.
The bankruptcies of Circuit City Stores Inc., Linens ‘n Things Inc. and Gottschalks Inc. in 2008-09 contributed to rising retail vacancies across the U.S., sending rents down 25 to 40 percent, depending on the market, Colliers said.
Chipotle, the Denver-based burrito chain spun off from McDonald’s Corp. in 2006, added 121 locations last year and plans to open 120 to 130 more in 2010, according to a Feb. 11 conference call.
