Micro Whole Foods

Amazon-owned grocery chain Whole Foods will roll out a run of stores that are about a quarter of the size of a typical Whole Foods footprint. The company announced the plans Monday, and tied them to wider trends in retail and commercial real estate. Also for today: The nation’s premier office market recorded another grim statistical milestone in February.

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Whole Foods to Launch Small Format Stores, Starting in NYC

Whole Foods Market will aim to make big profits from smaller stores in New York City and beyond. The Amazon-owned grocery chain announced Monday it plans to open mini-stores ranging from 7,000 to 14,000 square feet, or about a quarter of the size of regular Whole Foods outposts. The chain will start by opening one later this year at 1175 Third Avenue on the Upper East Side, with additional locations planned in New York before it rolls out the concept in other cities. The so-called Whole Foods Market Daily Shops will sell meals and snacks, plus staples such as fresh produce, meat, bread, alcohol and supplements, as well as a “handpicked range of local specialties,” the company said.

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Manhattan Office Market’s Doldrums Continue With Record Availability in February

Manhattan’s office market reached a bleak new milestone in February. The availability rate reached a record high of 18.2 percent last month, a 1 percentage point year-over-year increase and a 0.3 percent jump from January’s 17.9 percent, according to a report by Colliers. Manhattan’s available supply reached 98 million square feet in February, an annual increase of 5.7 percent. And supply has ballooned 82.1 percent since March 2020, the report found. A large chunk of that new supply — about 21 million square feet — is sublet space, according to Colliers. Companies added 560,000 square feet of space to the sublet market last month, the biggest monthly gain since February 2023.

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