Tampa, Fla. — Burger 21® signed six new franchise agreements in 2015, representing six future restaurants, including the brand’s first locations in Pennsylvania, Texas and Arkansas. In 2016, the brand will debut its first hybrid, freestanding restaurant and one of the first steps in a brand refresh plan announced last year. Also, to kick off 2016, Burger 21 opened its 21st restaurant in January and has more than 20 franchised restaurants in development in 11 states.
expansion plans
Chillicothe, Ohio — Chillicothe, Ohio-based Petland Inc. is expanding its international reach into the Middle East North Africa region. In the last 2 years, Petland has opened more than 20 new locations in international markets. Within the next year, the pet store chain plans to open stores in Saudi Arabia and has signed a master franchise agreement to develop stores in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Nanjing, China — Innovative product developer and specialty retailer Brookstone began the new year by opening its first overseas store in one of the largest retail shopping centers in Nanjing, China. Additionally, Brookstone opened three store-in-stores within Funtalk Telecommunication’s locations in Beijing and Shanghai.
Los Angeles — Forever 21 continues its expansion of its new concept, F21 RED, with three new stores in Brooklyn, N.Y., San Diego, and Kendall, Fla. F21 RED is a new concept store for Forever 21, which launched the first location in first quarter 2014, and currently operates more than 20 locations in the U.S.
New York and Toronto — Saks Fifth Avenue is revealing details about the previously announced opening of two full-line Saks Fifth Avenue stores in Toronto, Canada. The 163,000-square-foot location in the Eaton Centre at Queen Street is expected to open on February 18, 2016. A week later, the 150,000-square-foot Sherway Gardens location is anticipated to open on February 25, 2016.
New York City, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai — Brooks Brothers Group, Inc and Walton Brown Group, a subsidiary of The Lane Crawford Joyce Group, Asia’s premier fashion retail and brand management group, have established a joint venture that will open more than 10 points of sale for Brooks Brothers in the first 2 years.
Dublin, Calif. — Ross Dress for Less® will open its first stores in Wisconsin on October 10, 2015. The three stores are located in the cities of Brookfield, Eau Claire and West Allis. These openings are part of the retailer’s 2015 expansion program, totaling approximately 70 new locations during the year.