Awards

New York City - The International Council of Shopping Centers has named 12 shopping centers as winners of its 2014 U.S. Design and Development Awards competition.  ICSC’s U.S. Design and Development Awards are designed to recognize outstanding projects for excellence in the creation of new retail projects, and in the expansion or redevelopment of existing projects, solely within the continental United States.   

Kroger has gotten the ultimate green seal of approval from the EPA.

The federal government has announced that Kroger is the only grocery retailer to be granted elite Energy Star Certification status by the EPA.

"Kroger is committed to reducing our impact on the environment, and our Energy Star certified buildings have delivered energy and cost savings as well as reduce our carbon footprint," said Keith Oliver, Kroger's VP for facility engineering. "We are pleased to help our partners at the EPA celebrate 15 years of Energy Star certifications."

Porch.com CEO Matt Ehrlichman has been named the USA Today Entrepreneur of the Year for 2014.

Key criteria of the award included exhibiting significant growth this year and solving a consumer problem.

Ehrlichman won the honor after a team of USA Today editors sorted through 10 finalists.

Overstock.com is once again getting attention for the design of its mobile apps.

The company has received top honors in the Web Marketing Association's 2014 MobileWebAwards for “best iOS retail mobile application.” Overstock’s Android application received the same award last year.

LAKELAND, Fla.- For the fifth consecutive year, Publix Pharmacy is the highest-ranking pharmacy in overall satisfaction in the supermarket segment according to J.D. Power & Associate Satisfaction Survey, a customer satisfaction benchmark study that provides pharmacy-specific performance comparisons among brick and mortar pharmacies.  

Gap Inc., is the only retailer to appear on a flawed list called The Civic50 that presumes to recognize the nation’s most community-minded companies.

Now in its third year, the lack of retail representation on The Civic50 is highly curious considering retailers enjoy a high level of visibility within the communities where they operate and are typically quite generous in supporting local charities and national causes. The consumer packaged goods was also under-represented on The Civic50 although companies such as ConAgra, General Mills and Hershey were included.

NEW YORK — Chain Store age sister publication Retailing Today has released the findings of its first "Best Retailers to Work With" research report.   The exclusive research report examines suppliers’ perceptions of the retail industry in areas such as innovation, collaboration, digital readiness, expectations of trading partners and reputational factors.  

New York – Earning a reputation is not always a good thing, but in Google’s case it is a positive development. Google has received top ranking in the new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) RepTrak Study from Reputation Index. Google beat out number two company Microsoft, which held the top spot in 2012 and 2013. Nestle exited the top 10 list this year, while Lego is the one new entrant. The full top 10 list is:   1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. Walt Disney