Strategy

At least one retail industry participant is expecting the 2016 holiday season to be prosperous.   Omnichannel commerce technology and services provider Radial plans to hire an additional 550 workers in Reno, Nevada to support an expected 10-fold increase in demand during the upcoming holiday season. Radial operates fulfillment centers in Reno, which are in need of workers to help support its retail clients.  

A veteran of Apple has been named as the new senior VP in charge of global logistics, inventory allocation and replenishment at Target.   Ben Cook will lead the optimization of Target’s inbound and outbound supply chain processes, including carrier transportation and last-mile delivery. He’ll also oversee inventory allocation and replenishment, merchandise planning operations and global logistics. He will report to Target’s executive vice president and chief supply chain and logistics officer, Arthur Valdez.

The Kroger Co. is expanding its position in the pharmacy vertical.   Axium Pharmacy Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kroger, will acquire Orlando, Florida-based specialty pharmacy retailer ModernHealth. Financial terms of the agreement with ModernHealth parent company ModernHC Holdings Inc. were not disclosed.   The deal will create a combined specialty pharmacy that will operate as a wholly-owned Kroger subsidiary.  

Even geeks appreciate the convenience and hands-on experience of visiting a physical store.   Recognizing the continuing popularity of brick-and-mortar, specialty video game retailer GameStop Corp. has been extending its pure-play ThinkGeek banner into physical stores. GameStop purchased ThinkGeek parent company GeekNet Inc. in 2015. ThinkGeek specializes in selling “loot,” or collectible items and memorabilia, rather than video games.  

Augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go has given a big sales boost to GameStop.  

Consumer goods giant Unilever is paying a reported $1 billion to buy an online retail start-up that has yet to turn to profit.   Unilever PLC announced it is buying Dollar Shave Club, the razor delivery subscription service known for its irreverent brand positioning and viral You Tube videos. Terms of the deal were not announced, but The New York Times and other media outlets reported Unilever is paying $1 billion in cash for the scrappy company, which has yet to turn a profit but expects to do so by yearend.  

A shopping center in a tough neighborhood of Madison, Wisconsin, pays a troop of three parents to keep kids away from stores and cops away from kids.   Wearing yellow T-shirts imprinted with “P.O.P,” for Parents on Premises, the local adults interact with teens hanging out at the Meadowood Shopping Center, intervening with those fighting or caught shoplifting on behalf of the center’s owners.  

Available space in strip centers dipped to 11% in the second quarter, the lowest rate for these neighborhood venues since 2008. The reason: omnichannel growth and format experimentation, according to CBRE, which tracked availability across 62 U.S. markets.  

Cushman & Wakefield’s senior director for Brooklyn Joseph Cirone is incredibly bullish on the borough in which he lives and works.    “If you are a tenant in Manhattan with a lease expiring any time in the next 36 months, you need to come and kick the tires in Brooklyn,” Cirone told attendees at a presentation of the company’s mid-year commercial real estate outlook for Manhattan.   

Dick’s Sporting Goods is building a new $100 million regional distribution center that will service more than 200 stores throughout the Northeast.   The 650,000-sq.-ft. facility will be located at Broome County Corporate Park in Conklin, New York. Construction will begin in August 2016 and is scheduled for completion in early 2018. Dick’s expects to create 466 full-time jobs at the center during the next five years.