CarlÂ’s Jr., DunkinÂ’ Donuts come to town despite economy
CarlÂ’s Jr. fanatics who have driven the long road to Rockwall for a Six Dollar Burger for the past several years could have a much shorter trip in 2009 as the company told the Business Press it plans to introduce a 160-store expansion in Dallas-Fort Worth.
“We’re working on franchise agreements right now for the area,” said Lisa Shaw, real estate manager of franchise development for Carl’s Jr.’s parent company, CKE Restaurants. “It’s an area we’ve been watching for a while and by the end of next year we should be beginning our push.”
Carl’s Jr. currently has three Texas locations – one in Austin, San Antonio and Rockwall, at 1990 E. Interstate 30.
A typical CarlÂ’s Jr. store is between 2,400 and 3,200 square feet and features the chainÂ’s Six Dollar Burger line.
“We have been a hit everywhere and we are continually working to improve our line,” Shaw said. “Texas is kind of like the last frontier for us, but we are looking forward to expanding our presence.”
Like a handful of national retailers, CarlÂ’s Jr. is bucking a downward trend that has spread industrywide. The recent economic turmoil that has rocked the U.S. economy has plagued the retail market, causing fewer stores to continue on a growth path into 2009. A few stores, however, have announced further expansion into the Texas market including DunkinÂ’ Donuts, which plans to add 150 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth by 2015, as well as ChildrenÂ’s Place, FrancescaÂ’s Collections clothing retailer and Orange Cup yogurt retailer.
DunkinÂ’ DonutsÂ’ Tarrant County locations, which include new stores in Hurst and White Settlement, are part of the companyÂ’s local push into the market.
“The new stores showcase a more modern Dunkin’ Donuts and underscore our aggressive expansion into the Metroplex,” said Chandra Grant, regional marketing manager for Dunkin’ Donuts in Texas.
Despite a mid-2008 announcement of plans to close 356 stores throughout the United States, KB Toys has announced plans to open 30 new stores – two in North Texas – for the holiday season. The new full-size locations will debut at The Parks at Arlington mall as well as in Vista Ridge Mall in Lewisville.
The expansion of CarlÂ’s Jr. and DunkinÂ’ Donuts, however, is at odds with the national retail market, which has seen a flurry of announcements of closing stores, slowing expansion plans or ceasing operations altogether.
The most recent retailer to announce plans to exit the local market is Circuit City, which plans to close 155 stores nationwide, nine in Texas, due to a weak economy.
Circuit City will close stores in Mansfield, Burleson, Dallas, Sherman and McKinney. The company will still have 15 stories in the North Texas area. The company said it would also defer future store openings and begin to “aggressively renegotiate certain leases.”
The company said losses in the second quarter and the fact that its shares have lost 95 percent of their value in the past year led the electronic retailer to lay off thousands of employees and close 20 percent of its 700 U.S. stores by the end of the year.
“Since late September, unprecedented events have occurred in the financial and consumer markets causing macroeconomic trends to worsen sharply,” said James A. Marcum, vice chairman and acting president and CEO of Circuit City, in a press release. “The weakened environment has resulted in a slowdown of consumer spending, further impacting our business as well as the business of our vendors. The combination of these trends has strained severely our working capital and liquidity, and so we are making a number of difficult, but necessary, decisions to address the company’s financial situation as quickly as possible.”
Retailer Saks Inc. also announced plans to close its Club Libby Lu specialty stores, which includes a storefront at The Parks in Arlington.
Home furnishing retailer Linens ‘n Things, which filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in May, will close all of its stores including its five Tarrant County locations.
Also reported to be cutting back stores is Ann Taylor, an upscale clothing retailer shutting 117 stores nationwide, Foot Locker, an athletic apparel retailer closing 140 throughout the nation, and MacyÂ’s, cutting nine stores in the United States.
Other retailers are cutting back expansion plans for the coming years in hopes of waiting out the economic slump. J.C. Penney, LoweÂ’s, Walgreens and Office Depot are scaling back or delaying expansion plans.
Shaw said CarlÂ’s Jr. is happy to be carrying forward with expansion plans in Texas, despite a sour retail expansion outlook nationwide.
“We’re showing strong growth and we’re always looking for good opportunities,” she said.
