Strategy

Mississauga, Ontario -- Target announced that an additional 44 store locations in Canada have been awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) certification. This means that all 68 newly launched Target locations have been awarded LEED certification, a first for a major retailer in Canada.

Target is pursuing LEED certification for all 124 stores scheduled to open in Canada this year through the LEED Volume Program, which streamlines the certification process for buildings in both Canada and the U.S.

West Orange, N.J. — Paul V. Profeta and Associates, a real estate investment firm, has completed the sale of 12 Walgreens properties in nine states to Inland Real Estate Acquisitions. The purchase price was $60 million or more than $330 per square foot.

All of the properties are occupied under long-term 75-year triple-net leases with the Walgreens pharmacy chain. Walgreens has the right to cancel after 25 years.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 28% amid several one-time charges and a shift in quarterly tuxedo rental revenues. Citing macroeconomic challenges, the company lowered its fiscal 2013 guidance.

Walmart held another one of its Global Sustainability Milestone Meetings on Thursday and shed new light on priorities and initiatives that promise to have far-reaching implications on suppliers as well as competitors.

The highlight of the meeting was an update on the company’s Sustainability Index which has been rolled out to 200 product categories and 1,000 suppliers with a total of 300 categories and 5,000 suppliers expected by year end, according to the company.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples plans to open a dedicated to e-commerce and engineering center in Seattle that will house teams responsible for driving major initiatives to enhance areas, including next generation digital platforms, personalization, and big-data. It will be the chain’s first office on the West Coast.

Staples is opening a dedicated e-commerce and engineering center in Seattle that will house teams responsible for driving major initiatives to enhance areas, including next generation digital platforms, personalization, and big-data. It will be the chain’s first office on the West Coast.

Philadelphia -- Destination Maternity Corp. plans to relocate its corporate headquarters and distribution center from Philadelphia, to southern New Jersey.

The company's corporate office operations (which are currently split between its headquarters at North 5th Street in Philadelphia and its offices in the Philadelphia Navy Yard) will move twelve miles from the current 5th Street headquarters facility to a completely renovated 74,000-sq. ft. building in Moorestown, New Jersey. The chain expects the move to occur in fall 2014.

An already impressive speaker lineup was further strengthened this week when executives from Walmart.com, Salesforce.com, DataRank and Saatchi & Saatchi X were added to the lineup for the Emerging Trends in Retailing conference.