Strategy

There are no sure things in business – not even a partnership with Starbucks.

In paperwork filed for a planned IPO, Square revealed that since launching an agreement to process back-end mobile transactions for Starbucks in October 2012 (the coffee chain did not adopt Square reader hardware), it has recorded $309.8 million in revenue but $380.4 million in processing costs.

Rooms to Go is cutting the ribbon this weekend on the largest retail furniture store in the Southeastern United States.

The Florida-based retailer will open a Rooms to Go Super Center and Distribution Center on Oct. 17 in Dunn, N.C. The newly built facility comprises approximately 1,450,000 square feet on 120 acres and houses a state of the art Rooms to Go showroom, a Rooms to Go Kids/Teens showroom, a Rooms to Go Outlet Center and a huge distribution center housing tens of thousands of pieces of furniture.

Food Lion has rolled out its “Easy Fresh and Affordable” branding campaign to its 162 stores in the Raleigh, North Carolina market. The $250 million initiative included full store remodels, price investments and training of associates.

Starbucks Corp. is reportedly seeing value in a new addition to its drive-through order windows.

According to Bloomberg, Starbucks is rolling out video screens to 2,400 drive-through lanes in stores across the U.S. during the next 12 months. In one major differentiator from the drive-through screens found at many quick service chains, Starbucks screens will feature a real-time audio/video feed of the barista taking the order.

Images of items the customer orders will appear on the screen to ensure they are placed correctly.

Tarrytown, N.Y. -- DLC Management Corporation announced the company signed 27,684 sq. ft. of new leases in September across five states: Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The leases include tenants Carter’s, Creations Barber Shop, Five Below, Great Clips, Jude’s Carryout, Lucky Duck, Nail Bless, New Dragon Restaurant, Quick-N-Clean Cleaners and The Village Bar & Restaurant, ranging from 972 sq. ft. to 8,000 sq. ft.

Whole Foods Market and a key technology partner are creating a new retail platform that the retailer promises will be unlike anything on the market.

In a partnership that Whole Foods said will “redefine retail management software,” the supermarket company is partnering with cloud-based business application provider Infor to develop a new enterprise platform called Infor Cloudsuite Retail. The retailer hopes to make a profit of the comprehensive, cloud-based retail suite by selling it to other retailers.

Another company is offering in-app mobile purchase functionality, but this time it’s not a retailer or a technology provider.

U.S. bank Capital One is partnering with MasterCard and Visa to offer contactless mobile payment capability in its Capital One Wallet app. Leveraging the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) and Visa Token Service (VTS) platforms, Capital One will use NFC-enabled Android phones to transmit a secure payment token to the point-of-sale.

Staples is limiting the severance pay of top executives as the resolution of a deal with Office Depot draws near.

Staples announced that its board of directors has adopted a new policy stipulating that the company will not pay any severance benefits that exceed three times the sum of an executive’s base salary plus target annual cash incentive award, without seeking shareholder approval.

In addition, CEO Ron Sargent has elected to amend his severance agreement to align with the terms of the new policy.

One of the world’s largest C-store operators is searching for a new CFO as the company expands its reach in the southern United States with a deal to buy 18 convenience stores operating under the Texas Star brand.

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announced that Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Raymond Paré has resigned. It also announced a deal to acquire 18 convenience stores in the Souhwest, which will be converted to the Circle K brand and will continue to sell Shell and CITGO-branded fuel. The deal is expected to close by next April.

The world’s largest retailer plans to grow sales by $45 billion to $60 billion in the next three years and spend $20 billion buying back its own shares.

The growth targets, stock buyback program and an $11 billion capital expenditure program, down from $12.4 billion this year, were announced Wednesday morning in New York at the retailer’s annual fall investor conference.