Finance & Capital Management

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. announced the appointment of Thomas L. "Tommy" Millner to its board of directors. Millner is the president and CEO of Cabela`s Inc.

New York -- Despite severe winter weather travails during the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said Tuesday that December retail sales didn’t take the hit that many feared.

In fact, taking advantage of heavy promotions and last-minute deals, shoppers were able to move the December retail sales needle up 0.4% month-to-month, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, and up 4.6% year-over-year.



New York — RKF has helped arrange the sale of a 12,250-sq.-ft. property on Manhattan’s Upper East Side at 1151 Third Avenue for $18 million.

RKF Investment Sales & Advisory Services represented the buyer, 1151 Third Avenue LLC, in the transaction. HelmleySpear represented the seller, 201 East 67th Street. The transaction closed in late October.

San Antonio, Texas — The Retail Connection has brought retail development veteran David Berndt on board to extend the company’s tenant driven retail development capacity. Berndt will join as Development Partner of The Retail Connection | Connected Development Services. In that role, he will lead the company’s development platform in Central and South Texas.

The Retail Connection is expanding its capabilities across the board in Central and South Texas, adding senior brokerage leaders too.

Tampa, Fla. — Burger 21, a new concept from The Melting Pot Restaurants, has announced the opening of its first restaurant in Virginia. To be located in Ashburn, the restaurant, which is approximately 3,200 sq. ft., will be one of four units planned for the Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Currently, Burger 21 has 11 restaurants open and 17 franchised locations in development across the U.S. Plans call for a minimum of 15 additional restaurants in the Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Oakbrook Terrace, Ill. — Mid-America Real Estate Corp. has brokered the sale of two centers on behalf of Retail Properties of America.
 
First, Phillips Edison & Company purchased the 134,229-sq.-ft. Duck Creek Plaza in Bettendorf, Iowa, for $19.7 million. Schnucks and Marshalls anchor Duck Creek Plaza, and Home Depot serves as a shadow anchor. Mid-America Real Estate Corp. in cooperation with Mid-America Real Estate — Iowa LLC brokered the transaction exclusively on behalf of RPAI.

Minneapolis -- Supervalu Inc. said that it has named Gerald Storch, who served as CEO of Toys “R” Us from 2006 to 2013, as board chairman.

The supermarket company said Storch will replace Robert Miller, who is resigning as chairman in March to focus on “other demands.” Miller, then president and CEO of Albertsons, was named chairman last March after Supervalu completed the sale of five of its grocery chains.

New York -- Overall retail sales rose 0.2% last month, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a 0.1% increase.  Excluding autos however, December retail sales were up a solid 0.7%.

Auto sales fell 1.8%, dragging down broader figures, a reflection of  bad weather and calendar quirks than the start of a new trend. Retail spending figures for prior months were revised down to a 0.5% increase in October and a 0.4% rise in November.

GameStop reported increases in global and same-store sales for the nine-week holiday sales period ended Jan. 4, but results missed analysts’ expectations thanks to a greater-than-expected decline in sales of new game titles for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Target is investing $5 million in a coalition of cyber-security organizations to launch a marketing campaign to educate the public about phishing scams and security.

The coalition includes the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance, the National Cyber Security Alliance and Better Business Bureaus.

"Cyber-security is fast becoming one of the biggest marketplace challenges for businesses and a huge concern for their customers," Council of Better Business Bureaus president and CEO Mary Power said.