Consumer Affairs & Relations

New York -- UPS Stores, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service, said that a security breach may have led to the theft of customer credit and debit data at 51 UPS stores in the United States.

In a statement, the company said that customers who had used their debit or credit cards at affected locations (which are listed on the UPS site) from Jan. 20 to Aug. 11 may have been exposed to the malware. However, the company noted, exposure began after March 26 in most cases.

The malware was eliminated as of Aug. 11, UPS said.

Philadelphia — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust has entered into an agreement to sell an anchor pad underlying a Bon-Ton store in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, contiguous to Westgate Mall.

The transaction is expected to close prior to the end of 2014.

New York -- Macy's Inc. has agreed to pay $650,000 to settle allegations of racial profiling at its flagship store in Manhattan.

Under the agreement with New York's attorney general, the company will initiate enhanced training and education for its loss prevention and sales associates.

“We also will be adopting an expanded role for our security monitor to help ensure that we have the right policies and procedures in place, and that we are constantly reviewing our compliance with them,” the retailer said in a statement.

San Antonio -- CST Brands announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the convenience store assets, franchisor rights and associated trademarks of Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes.

Nice N Easy operates 77 corporate and franchise stores in Central New York. The company operations include thirty-three company operated stores along with forty-four franchise locations.

Mars has appointed Jean-Christophe Flatin as president of global chocolate, effective Oct. 1. Flatin, who is currently global president of Royal Canin, a unit of Mars Petcare, replaces Grant F. Reid, who recently moved into the role of office of the president for Mars.

New York -- GameStop Corp. said CEO Paul Raines had unexpected surgery last week for a small cancerous brain tumor.

Raines, who will be undergoing chemotherapy, will restrict his travel during the expected six weeks of treatment, the company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

GameStop said the treatment period would not interfere with Raines' "continued leadership" of the company.

A 6.4% second quarter same store sales increase at U.S. stores enabled Home Depot to handily exceed analysts’ profit estimates and prompted the company to increase its full year outlook.

Chain Store Age is excited to announce a partnership with Sunnyvale, California-based business accelerator Plug and Play. Plug and Play’s Retail Accelerator has joined forces with leading brands and retailers in order to foster the growth of retail-focused startups during a 12-week startup program in Silicon Valley. A round table of corporations, venture capitalists and industry experts guide the direction of the program.