COVINA, CA—Stater Bros. Supermarket has signeda 15-year lease for a 42,000-square-foot anchor space atGrand-Covina Plaza, a shopping center in Covina,CA. The anchor location has remained vacant for the past two yearsafter Albertsons, the former anchor tenant,vacated. The lease value was not disclosed.

The landlord has sought a grocer to fill thespace since Albertson's left, but found it difficult to find atraditional grocery tenant. Many traditional grocers are being hitby the changing retail landscape. “Stater Bros. is one of the few,what I would call, full-line grocers that is in an expansion modenow,” Terry Bortnick, Argent RetailAdvisors founder, tells GlobeSt.com. Bortnick representedthe landlord in the transaction. “Ralphs has not been opening newstores, Albertsons is in a store liquidation andSafeway is now in the process of being hired byCerberus. The only full-line, Southern California,credit grocery store that is doing deals is Stater Brothers,” headds.

While the space sat vacant, Bortnick looked into other groceryoptions, like ethnic and regional grocery stores. However, he foundthat there was either too much diversity in the area to attract anethnic grocer or the niche and regional grocery stores didn't havethe financial stability the owner wanted. A retaillandlord wants to make sure that you are going to weatherthe storm,” he says. “The area is mostly middle-income, and StaterBros. is an expert at operating in these types of areas. It had ahole in its network of stores in the area and this was anopportunity for them to fill in that space.”