Equity Retail Brokers' Greg Jones Receives 2011 CoStar Power Broker Award

Commercial Real Estate’s Leading Independent Research Service Recognizes Top Leasing and Sales Brokers in the Industry

Equity Retail Brokers is pleased to announce that Agent Greg Jones has been named a 2011 CoStar Power Broker by CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP), commercial real estate’s leading independent research firm. This annual award recognizes distinguished professionals in commercial real estate brokerage by highlighting the achievements of the U.S. firms and individual brokers who closed the highest transaction volumes in commercial property sales or leases for the entire year of 2011 in their respective markets. 

As the largest professional research organization serving the commercial real estate industry, CoStar is uniquely positioned to identify the top firms and brokers in each market throughout the U.S. All awards are based on transaction data maintained in CoStar's commercial real estate database, which is the largest independently researched database of commercial real estate property information available online.

Jones qualified as one of the top commercial brokers in the Philadelphia Metro Market based on the total leasing transactions he closed during the year. In order to be selected for this honor, Jones was evaluated against other commercial real estate brokers active in the region by CoStar Group, and subsequently ranked among the top brokers in the market.

“We are all thrilled at Equity that Greg was recognized for his hard work and completed transactions,” said Ed Ginn, President and Managing Principal of Equity Retail Brokers.  “Greg has all the skill sets you want in a broker, but just as important – he puts in the extra effort to make sure transactions close.”

 “CoStar Group is very proud to acknowledge the outstanding brokers who performed at the industry’s highest level to achieve remarkable sales and leasing success in 2011,” said CoStar Group Founder and CEO Andrew C. Florance. “These top performers truly represent the best of the best in commercial real estate, and they deserve to be recognized for their proven deal-making abilities. We congratulate Greg Jones on his impressive professional accomplishment.”

The complete list of 2011 CoStar Power Broker Awards winners can be found at http://www.costarpowerbrokers.com/.

About CoStar Group, Inc.

CoStar Group (Nasdaq: CSGP) is commercial real estate's leading provider of information and analytic services. Founded in 1987, CoStar conducts expansive, ongoing research to produce and maintain the largest and most comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. Our suite of online services enables clients to analyze, interpret and gain unmatched insight on commercial property values, market conditions and current availabilities. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CoStar maintains offices throughout the U.S. and in Europe with a staff of approximately 1,500 worldwide, including the industry's largest professional research organization. For more information, visit http://www.costar.com/.

About Equity Retail Brokers, Inc.

Equity Retail Brokers offers sophisticated market intelligence in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Our agents share information, contacts, and state-of-the-art resources for market analysis, mapping and demographics. Our clients benefit from true teamwork and extraordinary personal service. We deliver deals that work for national chains and local merchants, for new rollouts and expansions, for stores and space of every size. Our retail clients include some of the best names in banking, pharmacy, supermarkets, home furnishings, children's products and quick service restaurants.  Equity Retail Brokers….A good company, in good company.  http://www.equityretailbrokers.com/

Best Buy Closing Stores

Below is an excerpt from the blog “Boxing with Equity Retail”, posted by Rob Samtmann, Managing Principal of Equity Retail Brokers (http://boxingwequityretail.blogspot.com/).

Best Buy Closing Stores                                                             

Best Buy plans to close 50 of its stores (approx. 3.6%), eliminate 400 corporate jobs, and reduce costs by $800 million.  See below article taken from Bloomsburg Businessweek.

Best Buy to cut costs and close stores

By MAE ANDERSON and MICHELLE CHAPMAN

MINNEAPOLIS
In order to grow, Best Buy is shrinking.
The largest U.S. specialty electronics retailer for years expanded quickly by opening big-box stores across the country. But shoppers have started using the hulking stores as showrooms where they can test out products before buying them cheaper elsewhere.

To revamp the struggling chain, Best Buy said Thursday it plans to close 50 of its U.S. big box stores, cut 400 corporate jobs and trim $800 million in costs. The company, which has about 1,400 U.S. locations, also plans to open 100 smaller and more profitable Best Buy Mobile stores throughout the country.

"How do we position the company so we're where our customers need us to be?" asked CEO Brian Dunn in a call on Thursday with analysts. "We're clearly going to have more doors and less square footage."
Best Buy is trying to avoid the fate of its rival Circuit City, which liquidated in 2009 after it struggled with the changing electronics landscape. Sales of TVs, digital cameras and videogame consoles -- once the bread-and-butter of electronics retailers -- have weakened, while sales of lower-margin items like tablet computers, smartphones and e-readers have increased. The rise in competition from Internet rivals like Amazon.com and discounters like Target also has hurt electronics retailers.

To better compete, Best Buy is shaking up its business. In addition to closing some of its big box stores, the company said it will focus on what sets it apart from its rivals: Trained sales staff that can help shoppers get the most out of their tablets, TVs and other electronic devices, including tech support from its "Geek Squad" service and repair unit.

But even as the Best Buy announced its changes on Thursday, the Minneapolis-based company also posted a $1.7 billion fiscal fourth quarter loss that's partly due to restructuring charges. Despite the loss, Best Buy's adjusted results for the quarter topped Wall Street's expectations. But as investors worried that Best Buy's restructuring didn't go far enough, its shares slid about 7 percent to $24.66.

Best Buy's loss amounted to $4.89 per share for the period ended March 3, compared with a profit of $651 million, or $1.62 per share, a year ago. Results included $2.6 billion in charges mostly related to its purchase of Carphone Warehouse Group PLC's interest in the Best Buy Mobile profit-sharing agreement and related costs, as well as an impairment charge tied to writing off Best Buy Europe goodwill and restructuring charges.

Taking these items out, adjusted earnings were $2.47 per share, above the $2.15 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast. Revenue rose 3 percent to $16.08 billion, but missed Wall Street's $17.18 billion estimate.

Revenue at stores open at least a year -- an indicator of a retailer's health -- slipped 2.4 percent. But it was a smaller drop than a year earlier when the company reported a 4.7 percent decline.
For the full year, Best Buy lost $1.23 billion, or $3.36 per share, compared with a profit of $1.28 billion, or $3.08 per share, in the prior year. Adjusted earnings were $3.64 per share, which tops the previous year's $3.43 per share.

Annual revenue rose 2 percent to $50.71 billion. Revenue at stores open at least a year fell 1.7 percent. In the prior-year period, the figure dropped 1.8 percent.

Looking forward, Best Buy forecasts fiscal 2013 earnings of $2.85 to $3.25 per share and adjusted earnings of $3.50 to $3.80 per share. Analysts expect earnings of $3.67 per share.

It expects fiscal 2013 revenue of $50 billion to $51 billion. That estimate falls slightly short of analyst predictions of $51.6 billion. Meanwhile, Best Buy expects revenue at stores open at least one year to fall 2 percent to 4 percent.

"The firm is taking incremental steps to address its strategic challenges," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler. "That said, the soft close to the quarter, and subdued sales guidance, suggest that competitive pressure may be drifting into market share as well as margin."

Also, see below article taken from the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Best Buy not closing Phila.-area stores

Philadelphia Business Journal by Frank Devlin, Digital Content Editor

Date: Monday, April 16, 2012, 10:43am EDT

Best Buy’s wave of store closings will not reach the Philadelphia region.

The struggling consumer electronics giant (NYSE:BBY) announced the locations it will be shuttering over the weekend.

In addition to its financial woes, the company’s former CEO, Brian Dunn, resigned last week amid reports of an investigation into his conduct.

Retail Brokers Network...Teamwork At Work

Founded in 1994, the Retail Brokers Network (RBN) is a networking group whose members specialize in retail real estate brokerage.  Member firms work together on a regional and national level in tenant representation, investment sales and leasing.  RBN members interact through monthly special-council conference calls, ICSC Conventions, and the day-to-day trading of pertinent information.  This communication and collaboration allow the members to keep up with the ever-changing marketplace and increase business.

                                   

One of the biggest bonuses of RBN membership is being on the inside of a national network that refers and moves business through its own system.  This benefit was the main reason why founding members of the Retail Brokers Network started the organization.  The founders wanted to work with clients on a national scope and have the tools to receive and refer business around the U.S.

This referral system has worked well for Equity Retail Brokers, a Northeast Affiliate of the RBN.  Representing the Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey territories, Equity has worked successfully with several other RBN member firms using this system, including LMS Commercial Real Estate (Central PA), Sax Realty (Maryland, North Virginia, District of Columbia), The Goldstein Group (North and Central New Jersey) and NAI Emory Hill (Delaware).

Below is a list of retailers that have benefitted from the cooperation between Equity and the RBN member firms:

• CiCi’s Pizza
• Firestone
• Party City
• Pet Valu
• PNC Bank
• Pompanoosuc Mills
• Shoe Carnival
• Starbucks
• Super Shoes
• TGI Friday’s
• Verizon Wireless
• Wells Fargo

For more information on the Retail Brokers Network, please visit the website (http://www.retailbrokersnetwork.com/).

Lakeview Leases: New and Renewed

David Goodman and Rob Samtmann of Equity Retail Brokers were pleased to represent the Landlord, One Liberty Properties, Inc. of Great Neck, NY, in procuring a new lease and a lease renewal at the Lakeview Shopping Centre.  The center is located on South Township Line Road and Route 422 in Royersford, Montgomery County, PA.  They are as follows:

• New Lease:  AT&T signed a five (5) year lease for 2,200 SF of inline space in the center.  Gary Leone of FAMECO represented AT&T in the transaction.  AT&T plans to open their new store this Spring.   

• Lease Renewal:  Supercuts signed a five (5) year lease renewal for their 1,100 SF store in the center.

Still available:  1,650 SF of inline space and a 2,200 SF endcap.  The Lakeview Shopping Centre is anchored by Kohl’s, Giant Food and Marshalls, and its pad tenants are KFC/Taco Bell and TD Bank.  Lakeview has great visibility, a high traffic count and provides easy access to Route 422.

Please feel free to contact either David (484-417-2219, dgoodman@equityretailbrokers.com) or Rob (484-417-2208, rsamtmann@equityretailbrokers.com) for information on this center or other retail opportunities.

About One Liberty Properties, Inc.                                                                                                                

One Liberty is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OLP. The primary business of One Liberty is to acquire, own and manage a geographically diversified portfolio of retail, industrial, office and other properties under long term leases. Additional information about One Liberty may be found at: http://www.1liberty.com/.