Strategy

Lakeville, Minn. - Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s investment sales team recently brokered the sale of Heritage Commons in Lakeville, Minnesota (part of the Minneapolis metropolitan statistical area) to Austin, Texas-based Epic Real Estate Partners. Epic purchased the 138,690-sq.-ft. grocery-anchored neighborhood center.

Heritage Commons is anchored by Cub Foods and is complemented by national and local tenants including Subway, Papa Murphy’s, Great Clips and American Dental.

Houston – Francesca’ Holdings Corp. has appointed Martyn Redgrave as a member of the board of directors. Redgrave served as Limited Brands' executive VP and chief administration officer from March 2005 to August 2012 and also served as CFO from January 2006 to May 2007.

Framingham, Mass. – Staples Inc., famous for the “easy button,” is partnering with UPS to ease the shipment of UPS packages from any U.S. store location. Customers now can charge the cost of shipments at Staples to their UPS account, which means they don't have to prepare labels ahead of time and will see the invoice, and any customized rates, on their regular UPS invoice.

Fast-growing grocery delivery service Instacart is expanding a program that lets some contract workers become part-time employees.

The online grocery delivery service is now offering its contractor in-store shoppers in Houston and Austin, Texas, the option of applying for new employee roles with expanded responsibilities.

San Jose, Calif. – July 20 will always be a huge day in the history of PayPal Holdings Inc. PayPal completed its separation from eBay Inc. on July 17, but as of today is trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol “PYPL” as an independent public company

New York — Coming soon to a mall near you…robots?

Mike Kercheval, president and CEO of the International Council of Shopping Centers, is making the case for the use of robots in shopping malls. In an op-ed commentary on CNBC.com,  Kercheval says the robot's potential on the front lines of retail is limitless—and soon, he adds, “it will be difficult to imagine a visit to the local mall without them.”

Here are three reasons Kercheval says we need robots in malls:

Macy's Inc. should split off its real estate holdings into a separate company to maximize shareholder value, Starboard Value hedge fund manager Jeffrey Smith said during an investor presentation, according to several news reports.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Smith said Wednesday it had taken a stake in Macy’s and is pushing the department store chain to spin off some of its real-estate assets.