Labor & Employment

Northbrook, Ill. — Pine Tree Commercial Realty has announced the appointment of Julie Zamudio as VP of design and construction. Zamudio most recently served as lead manager of the multi-site group banking and retail sectors in the Chicago office of Lend Lease Construction Inc.

In its PizzaRev case study series, CSA offers an insider’s look at the conception, initial rollout and growth of the southern Calif.-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas very quickly in a high-end stone hearth oven. A test kitchen in Northridge, Calif., was launched in April 2012 and two additional locations quickly followed.

Leading food company ConAgra is out with its 2013 Citizenship Report detailing progress on a three-pronged citizenship platform of, “good for you, good for the community and good for the planet.”

The report is intended to show how the company is doing good through food while delivering growth for shareholders and is available here.

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney Company, Inc. has reportedly named Jan Hodges, a senior marketing executive who has been with the retailer for 25 years, to the position of senior VP and general manager of home goods. According to Reuters, Penney CEO Myron Ullman sent out an employee memo on Oct. 3 informing workers that Hodges would assume the new position on Nov. 1.

Publix is heading to South Carolina with two stores which will be located in North Myrtle Beach and Pawleys Island.

The first lease is for North Myrtle Beach located in the Coastal North Town Center at Hwy. 17 and Moss Place. The store will be a 49,000-sq.-ft. Publix supermarket and is expected to open in late 2014.

The National Retail Federation showed its Christmas spirit on Thursday by releasing a holiday forecast that calls for sales to increase 3.9% to $602 billion and assumes the President and Congress will be able to resolve their differences.

NRF’s forecasted growth rate of 3.9% is a solid figure and well above the 3.3% average growth rate of the past 10 years and ahead of last year’s 3.5% gain. In addition, the trade group’s Shop.org digital division forecast that online sales would grow between 13% and 15% to roughly $82 billion.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects holiday sales to increase 3.9% to $602.1 billion, up slightly from last year’s 3.5% increase. The forecast is higher than the 10-year average holiday sales growth of 3.3%.

The group noted, however, that its forecast hinges “on Congress and the Administration's actions" over the next 45 days as the government shutdown entered a third day

Harris Teeter’s shareholders voted to approve the previously announced merger agreement among Harris Teeter, Hornet Acquisition and Kroger.

Approximately 98.6% of the votes cast were in favor of the agreement, representing approximately 82.5% of Harris Teeter’s outstanding common stock as of Aug. 22.