Marketing

The revelation this week that Target chief marketing officer Michael Francis had jumped ship to become president at JCPenney was a surprising development that sucked some of the oxygen out of the retailer’s Minneapolis headquarters. Target is all about marketing and Francis was instrumental in shaping some of the most interesting customer communications the marketing world saw during the past decade. He was so highly thought of that earlier this year he was tapped to lead Target’s entry into Canada, arguably the company’s most significant longer term growth driver.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- Columbia, S.C.-based Edens & Avant said it has purchased Union Planters Plaza, a 155,000-sq.-ft., Whole Foods-anchored retail center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 

Located in one of Broward County’s most active regional corridors, Union Planters Plaza was originally built in 1989 and expanded in 2000 and sits on a total of 14.6 acres. Union Planters Plaza is the 25th retail center owned by Edens & Avant in the Florida market, including 12 centers in South Florida. 

WASHINGTON —The National Retail Federation announced that it is pleased with President Obama's efforts to implement three pending Free Trade Agreements. 

New York City -- Centro Properties Group US announced it has officially changed its name to Brixmor Property Group, Inc., effective immediately. 

The name change follows the acquisition of the company in June by an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI L.P. 

Brixmor is the second largest owner of community and neighborhood shopping centers in the United States with 585 properties aggregating approximately 92 million sq. ft.

San Diego — Teradata announced Tuesday that Hallmark Cards Inc. has expanded its data warehouse environment with new enterprise data warehouse platforms, including new data warehouse appliances, as well as the latest Aprimo Relationship Manager application from Aprimo, a Teradata company.

The upgraded platforms and software tools were implemented while realizing a 30% reduction in total cost of ownership. Hallmark also added utilities for backup and recovery, as well as Teradata Viewpoint and Professional Services support.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — HanesBrands announced that it has promoted Richard Moss to chief financial officer effective immediately.

Moss, 53, who has served as the company’s treasurer since January 2006, was chosen to fill the open CFO position after an extensive review of internal and external candidates, HanesBrands reported. Moss will oversee the company’s global finance, investor relations and corporate development functions.

The pricing gap between Target and Walmart narrowed last month to a scant 1.7% as Walmart took prices up slightly during August while Target did the opposite, according to a monthly survey by the retail research team at Credit Suisse.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- MinuteClinic said Tuesday that it has opened two walk-in medical clinics inside CVS/pharmacy stores in Savannah and Richmond Hill, Ga.

They are the first retail medical clinics to open in the Savannah region and join 31 other MinuteClinic locations in Georgia situated throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area.