In this post, we dive deep into McDonald’s and express some of the reasons we believe the brand is poised for an exceptional bounce back. But, because At Home has been so exceptional of late, we couldn’t dedicate the full blog to McDonald’s and left some space to laud this rising home goods giant.
When we put together our expectations for who would dominate the coming holiday season one group that stood out were wholesale clubs. It seems that the unique nature of the current retail environment was well-suited to these brands. And while we felt like a surface-level analysis was good, a deeper drive was required to emphasize the point and provide a better lay of the land.
In this Placer Bytes we take a closer look at one of retail’s top performing brands in CVS, and dive into two that have experienced recent struggles in Tuesday Morning and Party City. A few weeks back we analyzed the pharmacy sector and saw CVS dominating against other brands. And, it looks like its recovery is showing no signs of slowing down.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into the remarkable recovery of Planet Fitness, Hibbett’s positioning ahead of the holidays, and dive into why Gap might be moving out of malls. Planet Fitness has been leading a wave of top fitness chains that are enjoying a strong bounce back. And yet, the brand’s impressive performance may actually be even better than it appears at first glance.
The holiday season is upon us, and it may be among the strangest and most different in a long time. So, we tried to make sense of it, by highlighting a few sectors and brands that we believe will stand out in this unique period. Two key trends are lining up to give wholesale clubs a boost this holiday season.
In this Placer Bytes we dive into the Yum! Brands’s portfolio and fast-food giant, Wendys. Yum! Brands’s portfolio consists of fast-food players such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and the recently acquired Habit Grill. And, when looking at the first three, there were reasons to be optimistic at the beginning of 2020.
In this Placer Bytes, we take a look at the recent performance of Dunkin’, Starbucks, and Sprouts as they push deeper into the recovery period.
Prime Day is a pinnacle for online shopping, yet in recent years the offline impact has been significant and growing. Brands like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy have aligned deals to take advantage of the excitement surrounding Prime Day to drive offline and online visits. Even Amazon entities like Whole Foods have gotten into the mix, utilizing the buzz and cross-channel deals to drive interest in stores.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into the initial data from the reopening of the American Dream mall and a fitness player’s unique positioning. With many assuming the American Dream was going to be a flop, there are signs from the mall’s reopening that could be strong.
There is no doubt that malls took a serious hit during the spread of COVID. However, as we’ve seen in previous reports analyzing the different recoveries of indoor and outdoor centers, the pace of recovery can be highly tied to format. So, we decided to dive into an intrigued subset of the outdoor center, outlet malls, to see how they’re recovering and stacking up against other competition.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into Tractor Supply’s continued surge, analyze Chipotle’s Q3 and look into Albertsons impressive grocery performance. In a sector where giants like Home Depot and Lowe’s have dominated headlines, Tractor Supply has continued to perform well beyond expectations in its own right.
In our latest whitepaper, we took a deep dive into grocery foot traffic data uncovering many of the fascinating shifts the industry has seen since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. To get a bird’s-eye-view of the broader grocery sector trends, we analyzed a sample group of over 15 leading grocers.
In April, we made the argument that fitness could be one of the sectors to bounce back fastest – a bold claim at the time. The idea was that an extended period of being “stuck at home” could actually increase our longing for the gym. But, after months of watching the sector struggle as a whole, we backtracked and left even the strongest players off of our updated expected 2020 winners list.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into the pharmacy sector with a focus on Walgreens before taking a look at H&M following its announcement it’ll be closing 250 stores.
With the overall economy slowly recovering and the country returning to ‘normalcy’, some sectors have been hit far harder than others. None more so than travel. So with a return en route, we dove back into this space to see how leading players are responding.
Neiman Marcus officially emerged out of bankruptcy in late September, a major feat for the brand and its loyal customers. But, looking at the numbers for the brand does little to inspire confidence that a fundamental turnaround is in store. Even before the pandemic brought store activity to a halt, Neiman Marcus had a mixed start to 2020 with visits down 1.4% in January and up just 2.4% in February even with an industry-wide, late-month surge and an extra day of February due to leap year.
In this Placer Bytes, we analyze IKEA’s surprising surge, the potential next steps for Levi’s, and the impressive performance of footwear retailers. Neiman Marcus officially emerged out of bankruptcy in late September, a major feat for the brand and its loyal customers. But, looking at the numbers for the brand does little to inspire confidence that a fundamental turnaround is in store.
In early May, we noted the unique potential of the off-price apparel sector to buck the trend of the wider space and drive significant returns. And now, deep into the recovery, we are seeing that the return is even more impressive than expected, especially considering the ups and downs being driven by COVID resurgences across the country.
In this Placer Bytes, we check in on office supplies to see if there are signs of life and dive into rising visits to a leading purveyor of wine and spirits. In June, we decided to shake up our annual predictions with an added list that took into account the unique realities and potential opportunities that would come from the pandemic and recovery. And while brands like BJ’s Wholesale Club and Tuesday Morning are repaying that confidence, there is one sector that has left us disappointed: office supplies.
In this Placer Bytes, we dive into Ascena’s strengths as a means of looking forward, break down Bed Bath & Beyond’s latest and dive into Dunkin’s surge. In 2019, and again this past June, we noted that one of the most interesting sectors in apparel was the plus-size segment. This perspective gave us more confidence in a struggling Ascena as it sits on some of the most exciting brands in the space including Lane Bryant and Catherines.
