Finance & Capital Management

During a keynote at the recent Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, Tim Theriault, senior VP/CIO of Walgreens, discussed his company’s ongoing efforts at IT innovation. Walgreens has been involved in a number of notable recent innovative technology implementations, but column looks at the underlying strategy that helps ensure the success of those rollouts.

Here are three takeaways other retailers can glean from Walgreens’ innovation strategy:

Palo Alto, Calif. – HP plans to separate into two new publicly traded Fortune 50 companies: one comprising HP’s enterprise technology infrastructure, software and services businesses, which will do business as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and one that will comprise HP’s personal systems and printing businesses, which will do business as HP Inc. and retain the current logo.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Curbside, a new startup that specializes in same-day pickup from local stores, launched its service on Monday with several retailers on board, including a pilot with Target Corp.

The new service is currently available in 10 Target stores across the greater San Francisco Bay area, including the retailer’s Metreon and Geary St. locations downtown.  

Conn’s has begun exploring a range of strategic alternatives, including a potential sale, while maintaining the company’s long term strategy is viable.

Cincinnati - Phillips Edison–ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. acquired 11 grocery-anchored shopping centers during third quarter 2014. The company's portfolio now consists of 131 properties located in 27 states and leased to 38 leading grocery store anchors.

The 11 grocery-anchored shopping centers acquired during the third quarter to date expanded the company's presence in 10 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.

In this, the eighth installment in CSA's PizzaRev series, we’re featuring a Q&A that pools the expertise of several seasoned franchise operators to highlight the pros and cons of franchising with established brands and new concepts.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens’ same-store stores increased 7.9% in September. Total sales increased 9.4%, to $6.5 billion compared to the same month in fiscal 2014, the company reported Friday.

Comparable store front-end sales rose 1.7%, while comparable store pharmacy sales rose 11.3%.

Walgreens opened nine stores during September, including four relocations, and closed four.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open two new stores in Illinois on Oct. 11. The stores are located in Hickory Point Mall in Decatur and Times Square Mall in Mount Vernon.  

These new openings are part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.