Strategy

Washington, D.C. - The National Retail Federation (NRF) and more than 100 other business groups are formally calling for passage of legislation that would require the Transportation Department to track port statistics.

In a letter addressed to John Thune (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, the NRF and its allies said this would help prevent a repeat of the congestion and slowdowns that occurred along the West Coast during the labor dispute resolved earlier this year.

Oak Brook, Ill. - Inland Securities Corporation, the exclusive dealer-manager and placement agent for real estate investment programs sponsored by Inland Real Estate Investment Corp. (“Inland Investments”) and Inland Private Capital Corp., announced that Michael T. Ezzell II has joined the company as CEO.

Under the auspices of ensuring digital opportunity for all Americans, Best Buy has aligned itself with President Barack Obama and several service providers on wide-ranging initiative to improve high speed Internet access.

The program, called ConnectHome, was unveiled by the president on July 15 during a visit to Durant, Okla., and involves 275,000 households with nearly 200,000 children in 27 cities.

Dollar Tree Inc. has promoted one of its senior executives to be its next chief operating officer.

The company announced that Michael Witynski has been named COO and be responsible for store operations of Dollar Tree bannered stores in the United States, real estate for Dollar Tree bannered stores in the U.S. and all retail operations and real estate in Canada.

Walmart's Asian business is regrouping after the founders of the retailer's e-commerce arm in China, Yihaodian, have left the company, according to Bloomberg.

The news service reported the company confirmed Wednesday that Yu Gang, Yihaodian’s chairman, and Liu Junling, the CEO, left to start a new venture.

San Jose, Calif. – PayPal Holdings Inc. is still not officially an independent company, but is getting some serious respect from the investment world.

Once PayPal splits from parent company eBay and starts trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under “PYPL” (expected July 17), it will be listed on several prominent stock indices.

Highland Park, Minn. -- Target is going small — really small.

The world’s second smallest Target, a TargetExpress store, is set to open in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul, Minn.

The 16,000-sq.-ft. store, which opens July 22, will feature a pharmacy and cater to a community of families, empty nesters and college students, the Grand Forks Herald reports.