Finance & Capital Management

Indianapolis -- Simon, in concert with joint-venture partner PREIT-Rubin, has broken ground on Gloucester Premium Outlets in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, a multi-million dollar upscale outlet destination that will bring more than 80 retailers to the southern New Jersey market.

Katy, Texas – Academy Ltd., parent company of the Academy Sports + Outdoors chain, will open a 1.6.-million-plus-sq.-ft. distribution center on a 200-plus-acre site in Cookeville, Tennessee to support its continued expansion. The retailer will begin construction on the facility later in August 2014 with plans to become operational in early 2016.

The J.M. Smucker Company has gained entry to a new business segment with the acquisition of privately held Sahale Snacks.

Smucker said it reached an agreement with Seattle-based Sahale to acquire the supplier of nut and fruit snacks to warehouse clubs, convenience stores and grocery retailers. Sahale’s annual sales of $50 million won’t have a material impact on Smucker, whose annual sales last year were $5.6 billion, but the deal does extend Smucker’s reach into new product categories.

Montvale, N.J. – The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) is using the IBM FlashSystem V840 to compress live data and speed access to Big Data. The FlashSystem now integrates into a new Control Enclosure with IBM’s SAN Volume Controller (SVC) data virtualization system, a key component of IBM’s Software Defined Storage solution.

Tewksbury, Mass. – Delhaize Group, parent company of Maine-based supermarket chain Hannaford Bros. Co., is reportedly making a bid for part or all of the embattled Market Basket grocery chain. Market Basket operates 71 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, and has been embroiled in a dispute with employees over management since July.

Costco saw a boost in net sales and same-store sales during the month of July.

Net sales totaled $8.55 billion for the four weeks ended Aug. 3, an increase of 9% from $7.87 billion during the similar four-week period last year.

Same-store sales increased 5%, while U.S. same-store sales also increased 5% during the period.

For the 48 weeks ended Aug. 3 net sales were $101.43 billion, an increase of 7%. During the 48 weeks, same-store sales increased 4%. In the United States, same-store sales rose 5%.

San Antonio, Texas - CST Brands Inc. has entered into definitive agreements to purchase 100% of the membership interests of Lehigh Gas GP LLC, the general partner of Lehigh Gas Partners LP, from Lehigh Gas Corporation.The aggregate consideration will be $17 million in cash and approximately two million CST shares.

Zulily remains a company to watch in the e-commerce world with strong second quarter sales growth coming from existing and new customers on mobile devices.

The Seattle-based company’s value priced offering of apparel, shoes, home décor and gifts resonated with shoppers during the second quarter ended June 29. Sales at the four year old company increased 97% to $285 million and adjusted earnings per share nearly doubled to nine cents from five cents the prior year.