International Business

New York — Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry has signed a long-term lease for its first North American retail store and showroom at 585 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Slated to open in the fall of 2014, the 6,100-sq.-ft. flagship store will feature three floors plus a basement. The jeweler has more than 2,300 sales outlets around the world.

Winick Realty Group represented the owner, TSW 33 Realty Corp. in the transaction, achieving a record rent that edged close to the record asking price of $2.25 million per year. CBRE represented Lao Feng Xiang.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Ingenuity Development has entered into a strategic alliance with a New York Stock Exchange-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to combine forces on joint venture opportunities for retail and mixed-use projects in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. Ingenuity will also see opportunities to work with its affiliate, Divaris Real Estate, to lease and manage completed projects.

Walmart is marking the 20th anniversary of its entry into Canada this year by spending big bucks to expand physical stores and distribution capacity while devoting a much smaller portion of a $500 million budget to e-commerce.

Walmart said it would spend close to $500 million in Canada this year with $376 million of that amount dedicated to 35 supercenter projects totaling one million square feet of new selling space. Walmart currently operates 389 stores in Canada, of which 247 are supercenters. By year end it expects to have 395 stores of which 282 will be supercenters.

The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that Walmart has expanded and already sizable footprint in the San Francisco bay area.
Walmart opened a new office in Sunnyvale, about 30 miles south of its Global eCommerce and @Walmart Labs headquarter in San Bruno, that employs 500 people, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Details are still a bit sketchy, but click here for more from Walmart.com’s hometown newspaper visit.
 

Former Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke is among an impressive roster of top business executives slated to participate in a Wall Street Journal executive conference called ECO:nomics — Creating Environmental Capital.

The event, scheduled for April 2-4 at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, Calif., is billed as a day of no holds barred interviews in an interactive format that offers unparalleled networking.

Rick Herring, president of Ahold USA’s Giant Carlisle Division, plans to retire, effective Feb. 14.

Herring has been at Ahold for nearly 25 years and the company credits him with having made many contributions to the organization.

“We would like to thank Rick for his numerous contributions to our companies, as well as for his leadership, dedication and years of service," stated James McCann, Ahold USA COO. "We wish him all the best in this next phase of his life and career.”

Canton, Mass. – Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc., parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins, reported an impressive set of year-over-year financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013. During the quarter, net income grew 23% to $42.1 million from $34.2 million, and revenue increased 13% from $161.7 million to $183.2 million.

U.S. same-store sales for the quarter increased 3.5% at Dunkin’ Donuts and 2.2% at Baskin Robbins.

Issaquah, Wash. — Costco Wholesale Club’s same-store sales rose 4% in January, topping analysts' expectations. The metric rose 5% in the United States, and was 1% internationally.

Removing the impact of lower gas prices and foreign currency fluctuations, same-store sales were up 6%, rising 5% in the United States and 8% overseas.

For the 22 weeks ended Feb. 2, Costco reported net sales of $46.3 billion, representing a similar increase of 6% versus the year-ago period.

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney Company has entered into a new partnership to develop the vacant land around its Plano, Texas, home office in the Legacy Business Park. The new partnership will be managed by Team Legacy, a venture of the Karahan Companies, Columbus Realty, and KDC.

New York -- International sales from U.S. online retailers will jump from $11 billion in 2014 to almost $50 billion by 2020, which would make up 16% of the overall U.S. online retail market, according to a new report by OC&C Strategy Consultants.