Carolina Ale House (919-854-9444) is planning to open a restaurant in Durham, NC this year. The company also is planning to open locations in Charlotte, Wilmington, Greensboro and Winston-Salem during the coming five years.

Christopher & Banks Corp. (763-551-5000) is planning to open a store at Market Place Mall in Champaign, IL. Opening is slated for the Spring.

Carrabba’s Italian Grill (813-288-8286) is planning to open a restaurant at the intersection of Ninth Avenue and Gregory Street in Pensacola, FL. Opening is slated for June. The company currently operates 125 locations, including 41 throughout FL. The restaurant will have a rooftop garden, while the landscape will include several heritage oak trees. Overall, the company is planning to open eight restaurants.

Guy C. Lee Manufacturing Co. (919-934-2162) is planning to open a building supply store on U.S. Highway 17 in New Bern, NC. The company currently operates eight stores throughout NC and SC.

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. (800-934-6267) is planning to open a 130,000 sq.ft. store at the Hunt Valley Mall in Baltimore County, MD. Area retail includes Sears, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hoyt’s Theater, Wal*Mart, Burlington Coat Factory and DSW Shoe Warehouse. The company currently operates 64 stores throughout NJ, NY and PA.

Home Depot, Inc. (770-433-8211) is planning to open a store at U.S. 280 near Gene Stewart Boulevard in Sylacauga, AL. The company currently operates approximately 1,500 stores throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Construction is expected to begin this month, with completion slated for late Fall.

Rag Shops, Inc. (973-423-1303) is planning to open two stores and close two stores during the remainder of the fiscal year, ending August 30. The company currently operates 68 stores.

Staples, Inc. (508-253-5000) is planning to relocate its existing superstore at 829 Lakewood Road to a new building in the Naugatuck Valley Shopping Center on Wolcott Street in Waterbury, CT. The company currently operates approximately 1,200 stores nationwide and 1,488 stores worldwide

Publix (800-242-1227) is planning to open a supermarket at Atlantic Station in Atlanta, GA. Overall, the company is planning to open 69 stores this year, including as many as 10 in the metro Atlanta area.

Krystal Co. (800-458-5841) is planning on doubling in size during the coming five years. In the past year, the company signed franchise agreements for another 100 restaurants. Krystal is expanding into contiguous markets to its Southeastern base with the addition of major markets in FL, TX and VA. The company is opening a restaurant, on average, every 13 days.

Famous Dave’s, Inc. (952-294-1300) is planning to open its first barbecue restaurant at Scottsdale Center located on North 46th Street in Rogers, AR. Famous Dave’s currently operates 40 company-owned restaurants and 33 franchised restaurants. Opening is slated for June.

Max & Erma’s Restaurants, Inc. (614-431-5800) is planning to open as many as five locations during the remainder of the year. Franchised restaurants are under construction in the Cleveland and Cincinnati, OH airports. The company also expects that a total of four additional franchised restaurants will open before the end of the year. The company currently operates 69 locations nationwide.

American Drug Club (866-339-3356) is planning to open 360 stores across the U.S. The Canadian retailer is opening stores that will allow seniors in the U.S. and others on limited budgets easy access to low-priced Canadian drugs.

Harbor Freight Tools (805-388-1000) is planning to expand to 400 stores by 2005. The company currently operates 143 stores nationwide and recently opened a 17,500 sq.ft. store in the Miller Plaza located at 4333 Miller Road in Flint Township, MI.

Moe’s Southwest Grill (404-442-8332) is planning to open restaurants in Boca Raton and Wellington, FL this year. The company also is planning to open 28 locations from Port St. Lucie south to Miami, FL in the coming year.

Skyline Chili, Inc. (513-874-1188) is planning to open a restaurant at Heritage Square in Wilmington, DE during the Fall. The restaurant will include a drive-thru.

K’s Merchandise (217-875-1440) is planning to open a location in Paducah, KY during the Spring. The company currently operates 17 stores, including 10 in IL, three in IA, two in IN and one in MO. K’s also operates Eldridge Fine Jewelry stores throughout FL, KS and MO.

Tim Horton’s (614-791-4200) is planning to open 25 to 35 stores throughout the Dayton, OH area during the coming few years. The company currently operates 2,200 stores across Canada and has a base of 161 U.S. locations in MI, OH and upstate NY.

The Flying Star Cafe (505-255-6633) is planning to open two satellite coffee shops, including one on the West Side and another on east Montgomery Boulevard, in Albuquerque, NM. The next store will open during the Summer near Montgomery and Wyoming Boulevards.

Chico’s FAS, Inc. (239-277-6200) opened a Pazo store at The Summit in Birmingham, AL. The company recently opened locations in Scottsdale, AZ; Boca Raton, FL; Atlanta, GA; Memphis, TN and Dallas and Houston, TX. The 3,432 sq.ft. store at The Summit will be located in the original Chico’s location next to Ann Taylor. The company currently operates 360 stores nationwide.

Stop & Shop (781-380-8000) is planning to open 20 to 25 stores this year. The company currently operates 335 stores nationwide.

Viking Culinary Arts Center (601-898-2778) opened a store in the downtown shopping district of Garden City, NY. The company’s regional distributor occupies the showroom area in the complex, totaling 5,000 sq.ft. The company currently operates 10 locations and is considering another eight stores in metropolitan areas, including northern NJ. The stores are a combination cooking school, cookware store and product display and training center.

Natuzzi (336-888-0300) is planning to open approximately 150 furniture galleries to 40 Natuzzi and Divani by Natuzzi stores during 2003.

Best Buy Co. (952-947-2000) is planning to open approximately 80 stores this year.

CSK Auto Corp. (602-265-9200) is planning to open or relocate between 20 to 30 stores this year. The company currently operates 1,109 stores throughout 19 states under the names Checker Auto Parts, Schuck’s Auto Supply and Kragen Auto Parts.

H-E-B Grocery (210-938-8000) is planning to close a small store and build a bigger H-E-B Food Drug at 6013 Stewart Road in Galveston, TX. The company also is planning to open 20 supermarkets during the coming two years. The company currently has one Central Market and 35 smaller-format Pantry stores in the Houston, TX area.

Family Dollar Stores (704-847-6961) is planning to open 475 to 500 stores and close about 65 locations. About 60% of the new stores are targeted to open in urban markets this year. The company currently operates 4,758 stores throughout 42 states.

Dollar General (615-855-4000) is planning to open 650 stores throughout its current 27-state market, close 50 to 70 locations and remodel or relocate approximately 145 stores. The company currently operates 6,113 stores.

Fresh Enterprises (805-495-4704) is planning to open a Baja Fresh Mexican Restaurant at 1960 North Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights, IL. The space formerly was occupied by a Gateway Computer store. Cotenants include Panera Bread, Lone Star Steakhouse and Barnes & Noble.

Roadhouse Grill, Inc. (954-957-2600) is planning to open two company-owned restaurants. The company currently owns and operates 69 full-service, casual-dining restaurants, six franchises and two joint venture restaurants located in AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, NY, OH and SC.

Beall’s (800-250-9206) is planning to open two Beall’s stores at La Plaza Del Norte Shopping Center located at 125 N.W. Loop 410, and at Westlakes Mall, in San Antonio, TX. Currently, there are five Bealls stores in San Antonio and one each in New Braunfels, Seguin and Hondo, TX.

Marsh Supermarkets, Inc. (317-594-2100) is planning to open two supermarkets, including a location in Fort Wayne, IN.

Hollywood Entertainment Corp. (503-570-1600) is planning to open a Hollywood Video store and cotenant with a dollar store at University City Shopping Center in Spokane, WA. Hollywood Video plans to lease an 11,000 sq.ft. space directly west of a Rosauers Supermarket. The Dollar Store would take over a space formerly occupied by Hallmark. Overall, the company is planning to open 300 Game Crazy outlets and 200 Hollywood Video stores nationwide.

The Home Depot, Inc. (770-433-8211) is planning to open a store on Placerville Drive in Placerville City, CA. The company will open a 96,584 sq.ft. store with a "foothill theme" with natural rock columns and timber trusses. There also will be a 23,618 sq.ft. outdoor garden center.

Zaxby’s (706-353-8107) is planning to open a 3,000 sq.ft. restaurant at 250 South Atlantic Avenue in Ormond Beach, FL. The space formerly was occupied by Wendy’s. The company also is planning to open a 3,116 sq.ft. restaurant at 949 Saxon Boulevard in Orange City, FL. Both stores are slated for Summer openings. The company currently operates 148 locations in the Southeast, including 12 restaurants in northern FL.

Hot Topic (626-839-4681) is planning to open a Torrid store at the Wolfchase Galleria in Memphis, TN. Hot Topic also is opening a Memphis location at Wolfchase this Spring. Overall, Torrid is planning to open 25 stores this year.

Bass Pro Shops (417-873-5000) is planning to open a 190,000 sq.ft. store in Hampton, VA during November.

Randall’s Food Markets, Inc. (713-268-3500) is remodeling stores and has opened four locations during the past two years throughout the Austin, TX area. The company currently operates 138 stores under the Randalls and Tom Thumb tradenames in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. Future growth is expected to take place in Austin.

Saks, Inc. (205-940-4000) is planning to open a Herberger’s store at Northtown Mall in Blaine, MN. The store would fill a space formerly occupied by Montgomery Ward.

IGA, Inc. (773-693-4520) is planning to open supermarkets in Jefferson City and Moberly, MO.