Shopping Centers Today

MAR 2015

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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J o e S h e m i r a n i , t h e c o m p a n y ' s founder and president, moved his wife and three children from Maryland to California in the early 1990s and decided to start a business. He was a civil engineer and had no actual busi- ness background or experience. As it happens, though, he did possess some excellent business instincts. Upon ar- riving in San Diego, he discovered that there were no shops where one could get all-natural or organic foods at a low price, so he decided to fill that void. or A SMAll SUperMArket CHAin, Barons Market seems to be taking a big bite out of the grocery mar- ket. Generally, the sector is tough these days; competition is fierce, and profit margins are razor thin for most operators — hovering at about 1 to 2 percent. But San Diego–based Barons is not most op- erators. the family-owned chain has managed to achieve double- digit sales growth in recent years. Barons is now leveraging this financial success and a growing customer base to push ahead with store expansion in South- ern California. He opened the first Barons Market in 1992, in the city's point loma area. that first store was followed by four more over several years, but that fairly leisurely pace of openings could be starting to accelerate now: though the company rolled out its fifth store only last August, in Alpine, the next one is already in the pipeline. that opening is scheduled for early this summer in Murrieta. "Barons Market is a little bit of a mix of Whole Foods and trader Joe's and tends to draw a similar customer base," said Matthew Berger, senior vice presi- dent of leasing for the West region at Brixmor property Group. Berger worked with Barons on the deal to open that sixth store, at the Brixmor-owned Califor- nia oaks shopping center. Barons Mar- ket will go into a space being vacated by F Market growth family-owned supermarket barons market is expanding in California By Beth Mattson-Teig r e t a i l i n g t o d a y 16 S C t / m a r C h 2 0 1 5

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