Strategy

Everyone in the Gainesville, Florida, area knows Butler Plaza, the open-air retail center at Archer Road and SW 34th Street. Currently home to more than 1 million sq. ft. of retail and restaurants, it’s where north central Florida residents, 100,000 daytime employees and 75,000 students at the University of Florida and other colleges have filled their basic needs and wants for decades.

At a time when more and more online retailers are successfully expanding to brick-and-mortar locations, it’s worth taking a moment to examine how those brands are approaching the site selection process. The specific and strategic considerations that online retailers review when assessing possible brick-and-mortar locations not only tells us a lot about what’s behind that thought process, but provides important hints about the priorities and perspectives shaping retailer behavior in an increasingly omnichannel world.

Whole Foods Market will open its second 365 by Whole Foods Market store on July 14, in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The new format will make its debut in on May 25, in Los Angeles.

Chicago is one of the nation’s leading retail markets and a new report from Mid-America Real Estate details the area’s evolving growth patterns, retailers driving development and hot properties.

Retail Properties of America named Paula Maggio to the role of executive VP, general counsel and secretary, effective May 2.

Maggio joins Retail Properties of America following a 16 year career with Strategic Hotels & Resorts where she most recently served as executive VP, general counsel and secretary. Prior to that she practiced law with Altheimer & Gray, where she focused primarily on real estate and hospitality law.

Walmart is looking for innovative technology ideas – and casting a wide net to find them.

The discount retailer is launching a “Technology Open Call” aimed at retail technology start-ups. Walmart will consider technology spanning all of retail, including capabilities around the store shopping experience, associate experience, logistics, big data, security and/or social media.

Expect the 365 by Whole Foods Market store format to look much different than the traditional Whole Foods store.

The concept, debuting in late May in Los Angeles, will feature a no-frills design, low fixtures and all-digital price tags, reported Business Insider, which was given a sneak peak of the format.

To see renderings of 365 and learn more about its details, click here.

One of the nation’s largest franchisees will soon also be operating GNC stores.

Moving ahead with its plan to reduce its corporate-owned store footprint, GNC announced plans to sell 84 company-owned locations to Dallas-based Sun Holdings for about $17 million. The retailer revealed the sale amid disappointing first quarter results.