Mr. Kenneth Leonard

GLG News by Mr. Kenneth Leonard, Principal

GLG News is now G+ Insights

G+ is a community for professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to connect through online discussions and in-person meetings. You will continue to see G+ Insights (formerly GLG News) here as well as on the G+ website, where you can share and discuss the G+ Insights you read.

WSJ's Property Report Got It Wrong--Again

April 28, 2011

The 4/27/11 WSJ Property Report spent a half page of their section on a rehash of some obvious and questionable news about the strip shopping center industry. The Report focused on several new "surveys" by some large national brokerage firms (Colliers & Reis). The GLG reader should be alerted to the fact that the surveys could have been interpreted as either an optimistic or pessimistic report on the condition of the strip shopping center industry and WSJ chose to present a distorted optimistic version.

The Media Misses The Point --- Again!

April 6, 2011

Analysis of:Closings Loom As Sears Holdings Continues To Struggle | retailtrafficmag.com

As readers of GLG News are well aware from my past analyses, just about all retail and shopping center industry experts know that SHLD will soon be closing as many as 300 Sears stores and even more Kmarts. This overlong article misses the point so badly that I could not help myself from correcting their huge misconceptions.

DO BORDERS LEASES HAVE ANY LEASEHOLD VALUE?

March 15, 2011

Analysis of:Firm Selling Local Borders Leases Faces A Tall Task | www.chicagorealestatedaily.com

An article in the Chicago edition of Crains (and another in the 3/14/11 WSJ) talks about the various matters taking place in the Borders bankruptcy negotiations. This article clearly implies that there is substantial leasehold value in the poorest performing leased stores that Borders is disposing of. Since a number of GLG clients have been monitoring the Borders bankruptcy, I thought it worthwhile to take issue with statements from those responsible for auctioning off these store leases.

Another Phony Compliment For SHLD

March 5, 2011

The Friday, March 4, 2011 edition of The Chicago Tribune had two complimentary articles about Sears in the Business Section. The first one dealt with Sears attempting to woo Amazon affiliates over the online sales tax issue. The second talked about Sears attempting to upgrade their cosmetics area by subleasing or licensing prime first floor space to various cosmetics retailers.

Is Blockbuster Worth $290 million?

February 25, 2011

According to an article in an industry trade magazine called SCTWeek , Blockbuster note holders Monarch Alternative Capital, Owl Creek Asset Management, Stonehill Capital Management and Varde Partners have formed an LLC called Cobalt Video Holdco and have bid $290 million for the 2800 remaining Blockbuster stores.

Barnes & Noble Confirms Sales Boost From Borders' Closings

February 24, 2011

Analysis of:Barnes & Noble CFO discusses Borders | www.forbes.com

Last week's analysis of my "desktop survey" of the list of Borders stores to be closed in the Chicago area, revealed that 80% of the stores to be closed were in direct competition with Barnes & NOble stores. Now the CFO of B&N has confirmed my findings in a Call on Tuesday about their third quarter revenues. The B&N CFO acknowledges that this translates into the likelihood that shortly after Borders GOB sales, B&N sales in nearby stores should see a nice increase.

Borders Can't Stand the Heat So Is Getting Out Of the Kitchen

February 19, 2011

Analysis of:15 local Borders closing as chain files Chapter 11 | home.chicagorealestatedaily.com

For those few of you GLG News readers who continue to care about the future of Borders, I thought you might be interested in a simple analysis I conducted, out of my own curiosity, regarding the underlying reasons behind most of the Borders store closings.

Borders Bankruptcy Reveals Strength Of Power Centers

February 17, 2011

Analysis of:Borders Bankruptcy Shines Light on Continued Weakness of Power Centers | www.printthis.clickability.com

An article in today's Retail Traffic Blog mistakenly concludes that Borders bankruptcy reveals weakness in power centers. I have concluded the exact opposite. GLG News readers who follow shopping center REITs should be made aware of why this wide difference exist.

Dillard's Planned REIT Meets with Subdued But Polite Reception From the Pros

February 11, 2011

Analysis of:Some landlords express doubts about Dillard's REIT | icsc.org

Simon Property Group CEO,David Simon, said in an earnings call today that "there is no market for a self-managed , one-tenant REIT in public markets". Macerich CEO also echoed that same sentiment but thus far most of the business reporters and bank analyst continue to promote very optimistic valuations for this desperate fund-raising tactic by a troubled Dillard's.

THE BLINDSIDE OF JCP,SHLD & DDS STORE VALUATIONS

February 4, 2011

My recent critical analysis of a WSJ article reporting on Deutsche Bank's estimate of DDS's real estate portfolio value at approximately $50.00 psf and The Appraisal Institute's endorsement of that valuation in a follow up article, has caused some serious questioning of my sanity.

DEUTSCHE BANK IS WRONG ABOUT JCP AND DILLARD'S STORE VALUES

February 3, 2011

Analysis of:Real Estate Portfolios Are Large Part of Many Retailers' Worth | www.appraisalinstitute.org

The very authoritative and prestigious Appraisal Institute, (the one that awards the MAI designations) shows its' ignorance about the valuation of department store store real estate in this article. By echoing a recent WSJ article that quoted Deutsche Bank's Bill Dreher's ridiculous estimate of the current market value of JCP's and Dillard's real estate, they show themselves to be as wrong about values of department store real estate as the typical poorly informed bank analyst.

Don't Be Afraid Of All The New Ghost Malls

January 26, 2011

Analysis of:Inside The World's Largest Ghost Mall | blog.retailtrafficmag.com

This revisiting of the world's largest ghost mall in Dogguan, China has relevance for GLG News readers as a reminder that even in today's sophisticated world of highly experienced designers and architects, really big mistakes are still being made.

Do Craftsman and Kenmore "Broadcast Portals" Help the Sears Stores?

January 26, 2011

Analysis of:Craftsman Experience-Sears Pushes the Click and Mortar Envelope | www.mcmillandoolittle.com

This analysis of the new Craftsman and Kenmore "non-retail" stores is worth reading by any GLG News reader who is interested in SHLD or retailing in general. The main reason for my recommendation is that this article is written by one of the most insightful retail consultants in the industry, McMillanDoolittle LLP. Their newsletter, Retail Watch, should be a must-read for any analyst interested in what's happening at the cutting edge of retailing.

Dillard's REIT Play; An Opportunity for Insiders to Cash Out!

January 26, 2011

Analysis of:Dillard's REIT Play Might Pave the Way for Other Department Stores | retailtrafficmag.com

This is probably the most misleading of all the recent articles I have read about the proposed Dillard's REIT! It has prompted me to wave the largest possible red flag to warn the GLG News reader of the real implications of what happens when a very troubled department store company such as Dillard's or Sears tries to monetize their owned properties.

Prospects For A Dillard's REIT

January 21, 2011

In recent weeks there has been an awful lot of speculation about the prospects for the first department store REIT. GLG News readers should be aware of some of the more important issues that will come into play when analyzing the relative desirability of investing in it or in Dillard's stock.

A Brief History of Panics

January 13, 2011

Ever since the late 1700's when 24 merchants founded the New York Stock Exchange at an Inn along the road that connected the two walls on the lower part of the island, built to keep out the British some 100 years previously, there has been a long series of financial panics. I thought the GLG News readers might benefit from reviewing the causes and effects of those panics.

FEW STORES IN STORE

January 10, 2011

Analysis of:Retail building to hit low, then recover | www.chicagorealestatedaily.com

According to this article, shopping center development will hit only 634,400 square feet in 2011. This is the lowest amount of new development since 1983 when records were started to be kept.

Another Distraction For Sears Management

December 28, 2010

Analysis of:Sears Launches Video Download Service | www.chicagobusiness.com

One of the first things I learned from many of the top merchants in the world during a 40 + year career in Retailing was "to always try to be the best at what you do best". If you sell shoes, be the best shoe seller you can be. It is well understood and practiced by the top retailers, that distractions hurt the main effort in more ways than can be imagined.

The Last Word On CRE Indexes Of Value

December 23, 2010

Analysis of:Where Are CRE Values? | www.feedblitz.com

As many of you know, there has been a consistent attempt to create a benchmark around which COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE DERIVATIVES could be created. This article does a very nice job educating the reader about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three Indexes vying for the right to be used as the appropriate benchmark.

Depending on Who You Believe, Retailing Is Either Recovering Or Not

December 23, 2010

Analysis of:Store Openings to Increase in 2011, While Store Closings Will Decrease Slightly | retailtrafficmag.com

This article from the Retail Traffic trade publication is interesting because it contradicts itself in each of the three separate quotes from its' sources, yet manages to put a positive spin on its' findings.

Previous Page : 12345678910Next21 to 40 of 285