Strategy

Seattle – Stockbrokers in need of a quick caffeine fix between bouts of buying and selling have a new resource. Starbucks Corp. is debuting its new express store format on Wall Street in New York, across from the New York Stock Exchange.

The compact 538-sq.-ft. store space is designed to provide a streamlined customer experience and provide what Starbucks calls an “espresso shot” version of visiting its stores. Starbucks is relying upon store design, customer service and technology to provide the convenience it promises.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Corp. and Santa Monica, California-based shopping mall operator The Macerich Co. are forming a 50/50 joint venture that will purchase nine Sears stores located in Macerich malls for $150 million. The venture will then lease the stores back to Sears or to other retailers.

Sears has entered two other similar leaseback joint ventures during April 2015, including deals with General Growth Properties and Simon Property Group. According to Macerich, the stores have average in-line sales of $680 per square foot.

Washington, D.C. - As a result of higher same-store sales and a continued optimistic outlook for future business conditions, the National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) remained in positive territory in March. The RPI, a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry, stood at 102.2 in March, down 0.4% from February's level of 102.6.

Our cover story this month is about one of my favorite topics: hot retail concepts. It’s a subject that, to my mind, never goes out of style because it speaks as much to the essence of retail in today’s omnichannel age as it did in the purely physical one.

New concepts remain the lifeblood of retailing, and it’s always exciting to recognize and call attention to them. And I’m happy to report that the industry seems to be particularly rich in new formats these days.

Major shopping center openings in 2014 beg the question, “Are we back on track?”

Last year may be the first 365-day period since the Great Recession that there is enough new shopping center space to crow about.

Chain Store Age’s annual development survey — spanning 26 years — reported pretty spotty new-build efforts from 2009 to 2013, but in 2014 some significant projects opened.

Gaining market share and geographic coverage are top priorities driving deals

Retail continues to rally for deals in 2015, and the sector could be on the cusp of another major year for mergers and acquisitions. Already this year, we’ve seen speculation about a number of potentially massive deals — from a possible buyout of Rite Aid by Walgreens Boots Alliance to the proposed merger between Staples and Office Depot. Looking across the industry, as part of BDO’s annual Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, we asked chief financial officers at leading U.S.

The upcoming Oct. 1, 2015, mandate for U.S. retailers to adopt POS systems that can securely accept and process transactions using EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa)-compliant, chip-based payment cards is fast approaching. Retailers that are not in compliance with the mandate after that date will be held liable for any fraudulent transaction committed with a chip-based card.

Despite claims that e-commerce will overtake traditional retail space, physical store locations are still attractive to retailers. In fact, they plan to open over 76,000 stores in the next 24 months, according to RBC Capital Markets data. And while several major retail closings have been announced this year, other retailers are stepping up expansion plans for new stores and concepts.

Growing retailers are all about the niche lifestyle — fast fashion, food, fitness and pharmacy — and focus on what consumers care about most, including value, quality, health and the environment.

Bauer Hockey: Ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey is throwing its puck in the retail arena. The company will open its first-ever store this summer, in Burlington, Massachusetts, followed by a second location in the fall, in the Minneapolis area.

Brian Unmacht (left) and George D. Bartell