So the Publix and the McDonald's in Magnolia are rented from the Villages? Does anyone know who built the buildings - was it the developer or the tenant? I have no experience in commercial real estate but I would hate to pay for the construction of a building that is owned by the landlord.

Developer builds the buildings. Just like all the real estate in the squares and all the other commercial real estate (i.e. The Plaza’s) that is golf course accessible.
A store like McDonalds will give the developer their specs for a building, but the owner of the real estate arranges for it to be built.

Places like BJ’s and Costco, where savings are had by buying in bulk, don’t lend themselves well to the limited cargo space in golf carts. Places like Publix and Winn Dixie, when only buying groceries for two older people, are prefect for golf carts equipped with a large cargo bag that attaches to where the golf clubs go.

Thanks for the explanation.

We throw our Yeti in the back end, and off we go to Gainesville..Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, great restaurants. Nice trip away especially in the summer when UF has very little students on campus

Yeah, nobody goes there any more. It's too crowded.

Duh!

A tax write off? Are you imagining that the people who run WD have a plan to open a store that they believe will lose money, intentionally, so they can "write off" their losses against the profits of profitable stores?

It will be interesting to compare pricing to those on Villages property.

Publix in Trailwinds has the same prices as Publix in Colony. I doubt there will be a difference in for the 2 Winn Dixies.

All the $$ is around 466a

We started snowbirding in 2019. Our first rental was in Sabal Chase, then Hemmingway, and we bought in Poinciana. We really appreciated how little traffic there was on 466A, but we knew it couldn't last.
I think our first winter, Lowe's was open and running, but I don't think the Trailwinds Publix was. But we could see the handwriting on the wall. With the non-Villages developments behind and around Trailwinds, we knew it was a matter of time before more commercial development would pop up on 466A.

I'm not complaining. I'll be using those establishments just like most everyone else, but it was sweet while it lasted.

Really? Where did you hear that?

Shout out for Shoprite. We had a new one open when we lived in New Jersey. That store never ran out of anything.......ever! (Even pre-pandemic, Publix would be out of stock on certain items that I frequently purchase). Shoprite also has Artesian breads and gourmet bakery items. The boxes they used for their gourmet cakes were beautiful enough to give at holidays as a gift. The store also had way too many choices of any one item. I had my favorites though.

I thought that renting in the villages is significantly higher than renting outside. If the prices are the same in both locations, wouldn’t that make the village’s store less profitable for Publix or WD?

Maybe the golf cart accessible stores are busier.

A Publix store has sales of about $38 million per year. So, I don't think the rent is a major factor in their profit margin.

Did you read on TOTV that rents were higher?
Or what made you think they were?

I remember reading something about that in a "Fact vs Fiction" sheet from the Villages not too long ago. If I can find it again I'll post a link here.

"Over 500 units" apartment complex on the Burke property is more concerning than the discussion about Winn-Dixie. Where and when was this announced?

Imagine the traffic it will create on Micro-Racetrack and 466A.

I found this from about five years ago. Although he doesn't really answer the question.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...illage-241224/

Not the one I remember but basically the same info.

“This is a myth but…” basically it is true

I think he does.
From your link.

What about the claim The Villages charges higher-than-average market rates for rent?

That’s another myth; that The Villages charges too much rent for businesses to be able to survive. Every business knows the terms of their lease before signing a contract, and has included that in their pro forma. Any rent escalations are defined from the outset and are either fixed or tied to the federal Consumer Price Index. So there are no surprises on either end. There are properties within The Villages that require higher rents than others, but also many properties in the community that we do not own charge higher rents than we do.

Because the store doesn't think based on the population and the cost of the store it won't be good for the shareholders.

lmao.

The question was “What about the claim The Villages charges higher-than-average market rates for rent?”

He doesn’t say that they don’t charge higher than average market rates. The question wasn’t whether the villages charges too much rent for businesses to survive. Obviously businesses do survive.

He says that it is a “myth that The Villages charges too much rent for businesses to be able to survive.” A tenant might be able to survive paying higher than average rents - but may still be paying above average rents.

The guy’s ability to not answer the question shows that he should be in politics. If you don’t like the question, give a non-answer that appears to be an answer.

He should have attacked the question. "Average rent?" What is "average". We all know that the value of real estate is entirely based upon its location, hence the appropriate rent is also. So when we are talking about "average" rent, are we comparing the rent that Red Sauce pays per square foot, in Lake Sumter Landing to the cost per square foot in a strip mall between TV and Ocala?
Are we assuming that Winn Dixie pays a lot more per square foot in LSL than it will on the corner of 466A and Micro Race Track Rd? Well, what do you think the value of that real estate is now? 15 years ago it was not much, but today? It may well command just as much, if not more, than LSL due to the higher traffic flow and access for non TV residents.

I agree with you that he didn't answer the specific question. But he did a good job of explaining that the rent charged is not why businesses fail. They fail because whoever put the business plan together made a miscalculation of how attractive and profitable their enterprise would be, based upon the rent and the traffic flow that location would provide.

I had a colleague who put his dental practice in a mall. This was in the late 1970s when malls were still attractive for shoppers. The rent was high, but the traffic flow was tremendous. It didn't work for him because the mall traffic wasn't what you wanted to build a dental practice around. He got a disproportionate amount of walk-ins, rather than folks who were looking for a "dental home". Who wants to drive to the mall and park a half-mile away for a dental appointment?
My point is that the mall wasn't charging too much rent for its space. Heck, the hot pretzel shop right next to him was there for 30 years. The failure to put a business appropriate for the location was entirely his fault.
BTW, he moved his practice about a mile to a single building off of a busy road with an appropriately sized parking lot and had a fabulously successful practice and career.

More Publix to come.
 

There will be at least 1 more Publix built closer to the 4th town square. There already is one built further south of 44.

Rent to high.
 

If your rent is to high why is there a 97 per cent occupancy rate for existing commercial sites.

Small rental spaces at the Trailwinds shopping center is being advertised at $30 per square foot per year. I'm sure that Publix is paying less than $30, but, even if they were, their annual rent for the 50,000 SF store would be about $1.5 million. That would be about 4 percent of the gross sales income for an average Publix store of $38 million. So, I don't think Publix is concerned about paying the rent.

The average grocery store chain has a profit margin of just over 2%. So yeah, I think they're concerned about rent...

With a 2% profit margin, you don't have to be very far off on your calculations to sink your ship, do you?

Maybe that's why so many of the grocery store brands we grew up with are gone.

Wegmans is big in my neck of the woods (Upstate NY) and their model seems to be to own the real estate and rent out a few store fronts connected to the Wegmans anchor. I'll bet they get top dollar for those sites.

Publix Gross Sales were $48 Billion

In addition to its net sales growth, Publix reported $4.4 billion in net earnings for 2021, up from the $4 billion profit it logged in 2020. Gross margin for 2021 was 27.7%, compared to 27.9% in 2020. After excluding the last-in, first-out (LIFO) reserve effect, the decrease was primarily due to increased shrink and distribution costs, the company said.

Publix boosts capital budget for 2022 | Grocery Dive

Your numbers illustrate that it's a big business. Closer to 10% profit margin? How does 4B in earnings, on 48B in sales =27% margin?

I'm confused. Is the profit margin 2 percent or 10 percent or 27 percent? But, in any case, I don't think the rent payment for Villages vs non-Villages properties is a significant factor.

Which has nothing to do with the success/failure of an individual store...

BINGO! :highfive: THIS! :D