When a grocery anchor goes dark, the instinct is to panic and chase a like-for-like replacement as fast as possible. Both are usually mistakes.

In this episode, host Mike Law and Kevin Bissell get into what actually happens when an anchor leaves a center: why the first 90 days matter more than the vacancy itself, why the right backfill is often a completely different kind of grocer — or no grocer at all — and how to know the difference before you sign anyone.

In this episode:

• Why the anchor leaving isn't the disaster — it's the first 90 days afterward that decide whether a center recovers or quietly slides.
• Why the replacement is so often a different format of grocer — discount, specialty, quality-and-service, ethnic — rather than a like-for-like swap.
• When the right answer is no grocer at all, because the demographics under the box have shifted since the original lease was signed.
• How to read whether the trade area still supports a grocer before you go chasing one — and how a sales forecast tells you which one will actually work.
• The scramble-to-backfill mistakes that cost landlords and developers value, and the move that protects the center instead.

About the guest
Kevin Bissell is SVP of Real Estate Research at CRE360 Partners, with decades in grocery and retail research — including leading research for one of the country's largest retail REITs and a top national grocery-research firm. He's built sales forecasts and market studies for retailers, landlords, developers, and municipalities across all 50 states, much of it grounded in the fieldwork most firms no longer do.

About the show
The Ground Truth is a podcast for retail real estate operators, executives, and decision-makers. New episodes every two weeks. Hosted by Mike Law.

Sponsored by CRE360 Partners — a retail real estate research and advisory firm helping retailers, landlords, and municipalities make better expansion and leasing decisions.