Toys R Us Returns to the Bay Area with Stores at Bay Street Emeryville and Streets of Brentwood as WHP Global Adds 120 US Locations
Why this matters
Retail has become a quiet outperformer. A decade of effectively zero new development has left necessity-driven, grocery-anchored, and Sun Belt strip product with negligible vacancy and re-leasing spreads in the high single digits. Cap rates have compressed in step, and the bid for stabilized portfolios is again broad across REITs, pension funds, and institutional core-plus capital. San Francisco continues to clear office at the deepest discounts to 2019 basis seen in the cycle, while multifamily fundamentals have stabilized and life sciences in the Peninsula remains active. The asset class has effectively rerated as a defensive yield trade rather than a secularly challenged sector.
Editorial analysis · Real Estate Trail Editorial
On the RET wire
- The 123rd San Francisco story tracked on the wire in September 2026. All San Francisco coverage →
- Disclosed retail deal value tracked in September 2026: $5.7B across 97 reported transactions. All Retail coverage →
Computed from Real Estate Trail’s own tracked coverage
The most famous casualty of the last decade's retail shakeout is back on Bay Area shopping centers, with Toys R Us opening holiday stores at Bay Street Emeryville and the Streets of Brentwood as part of a national pus…
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