Burlington appears to be downsizing its Regency Plaza store by two-thirds, creating space for two more retailers that include a larger-than-usual AutoZone.
The move is a sign of a new strategy for both.
Burlington, the national off-price retailer of clothing, home décor and other merchandise, leased at least 80,500 square feet of space at 9824 Atlantic Blvd. in the shopping center at southeast Atlantic Boulevard and Live Oak Drive.
The location is near Regency Square Mall in Arlington.
The city is reviewing a permit application for a split in the space at an estimated project cost of $200,000. That project would prepare 31,425 square feet of space for future build-out by AutoZone.
Burlington says on burlington.com that its preferred size ranges from 18,000 to 30,000 square feet.
A brochure by CBRE Retail Specialist Lara Bahri Higgs shows the spaces in round numbers with Burlington down to 28,000 square feet --– a third of its original size.
The brochure shows available square footage at 22,500 and the AutoZone store, although not identified by that name. That space is shown as a 30,000-square-foot tenant in negotiation.
Because Burlington is remaining at the center, it likely will continue to operate throughout the construction process.
No timetable was included.
The plans for the future AutoZone show 20,225 square feet for the sales area and 11,200 square feet for storage.
With AutoZone stores typically 6,500 to 8,000 square feet, the retailer is opening Hub stores of 16,000 to 20,000 square feet and MegaHub stores of 33,000 to 35,000 square feet, according to about.autozone.com.
SupplyChainDive.com reported in March 2024 that the MegaHubs can carry up to 110,000 products and quickly replenish inventory at satellite locations in nearby markets.
Memphis, Tennessee-based AutoZone Inc., which sells auto parts and accessories and offers services, has 37 stores in Northeast Florida.
The construction plans show the Regency Plaza landlord as America’s Realty LLC of Maple Heights, Ohio. The project manager is Onyx Creative of Cleveland.
Regency Plaza is anchored by OfficeMax, Chuck E. Cheese and dd’s Discounts.
Burlington Stores Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, has six area stores in Gateway Town Center, Argyle Village Shopping Center, Regency Plaza, Old St Augustine Plaza, River City Marketplace and Saint Johns.
Its newer area stores are in the 24,000- to 25,000-square-foot range.
AutoZone adding larger stores
AutoZone did not respond to several calls and emails asking whether the Regency Plaza project could be a Hub or MegaHub.
The company has plans for more of each.
A Seeking Alpha transcript May 27, 2025, of the AutoZone third-quarter conference call with analysts shows corporate focus on the concepts and the capital investment to support them.
“This year, we expect to again invest approximately $1.3 billion in CapEx in order to drive our strategic growth priorities. As a large part of our CapEx budget for this year, we are investing in accelerated store growth, specifically hubs and mega hubs, placing inventory closer to our customers,” said AutoZone President and CEO Philip Daniele III in the transcript, which did not use AutoZone’s format for Hub and MegaHub.
Chief Financial Officer Jamere Jackson said during the call that AutoZone plans to aggressively pursue growing its “share of wallet” with existing customers and adding new customers.
“Mega Hub stores are a key component of our current and future commercial growth. We opened eight Mega Hubs and finished the third quarter with 119 Mega Hub stores,” he said per the transcript. The quarter ended May 10, 2025.
“We expect to open at least 10 more locations over the next quarter. As a reminder, our Mega Hubs typically carry over 100,000 SKUs and drive a tremendous sales lift inside the store box as well as serve as an expanded assortment source for other stores.”
SKU stands for stock keeping unit, an identifier assigned to each individual product.
“We continue to target having just under 300 Mega Hubs at full build out,” bringing items closer to customers, Jackson said.
Daniele said MegaHubs “are ramping faster to the extent that we can put 100,000 SKUs in a big box format in a local market, jamming more parts closer to the customer. Those boxes become magnets for traffic, and we’re doing well inside the four walls.”
As of May 10, AutoZone had 6,537 stores in the U.S., 838 in Mexico and 141 in Brazil, for a total count of 7,516.
At about.AutoZone.com, the company says it is the leading retailer and distributor of automotive replacement parts and accessories in the Americas.
The stores carry products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans and light duty trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories and nonautomotive products.
Most of the stores also sell to local, regional and national repair garages, dealers, service stations, fleet owners and other accounts.
Burlington downsizing stores
Burlington says in an investor presentation dated May 2025 that its Burlington 2.0 goals include smaller stores.
Trade website CREDaily.com reported Jan. 31, 2025, that Burlington is cutting store sizes by nearly 80%, “opting for smaller locations that focus on offering customers a ‘treasure-hunt’ shopping experience at low prices.”
The site said that with an aggressive expansion strategy to open 400 net new stores over the next four years, Burlington is competing with larger rivals, like Ross Stores and TJX Cos., whose banners include T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.
The site says that at Burlington’s newer locations, “the days of sprawling, cluttered big-box stores are over.”
It reported that a typical new Burlington store now spans just 18,000 square feet, less than 20% the size of its old locations.
“In this revamped format, merchandise is neatly arranged, and customers can more easily navigate aisles to find bargains.”
BurlingtonInvestors.com says that in 1972, Burlington started its retailing business, opening its first Burlington Coat Factory store in Burlington, New Jersey.
Its initial strategy was to offer branded outerwear for the family, with prices substantially below department store retail prices.
It rebranded to Burlington Stores during 2014-16 to communicate that Burlington is “more than just coats.”
It says it now has 1,115 stores in 46 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico with the potential to expand to 2,000 stores.
Burlington has not responded to an email about its Jacksonville store at Regency Plaza.