Strategy

Indianapolis — Kite Realty Group has leased a 31,541-sq.-ft. location in El Paso’s Sunland Towne Center.

Kite Realty and RJL Realty Advisors represented the landlord, KRG Sunland. Venture Commercial represented Sprout’s.

Flooring specialist Lumber Liquidators reported a 14.9% second quarter same store sales increase and became the latest company to benefit from a resurgent housing and home improvement market.

Lumber Liquidators, operator of 300 stores, said total sales increased 22.2% to $257.1 million from $210.3 million during the second quarter ended June 30. Gross margins expanded to 41.3% from 37.3%, reflective of a reduced sourcing costs, higher prices and improved operational efficiencies, which translated to significant profit growth. Net income surged 67.7% to $20.4 million.

New York -- Barneys New York is getting rid of it Co-op brand moniker.

In a Women's Wear Daily report, the upscale retailer said it will convert and rebrand its existing Co-op stores as Barneys. All the existing Co-op stores will be remerchandised and remodeled, the report said. The Co-op concept was developed as a lower-priced, entry-level brand for younger shoppers.

IRVING, Texas — Holiday shifts adversely affected quarter-to-date performance at Michaels Stores, which reported net sales of $631 million for the nine-week period ending July 6, a decrease of 0.1% from $631.8 million for the comparable period last fiscal year. 

Same-store sales for the same fiscal period declined 2.7%. The company's quarter-to-date performance was also adversely affected by the timing of media activity due to the impact of the 53rd week in fiscal 2012. However, as a result of the shifts, the company has seen improvement in July sales performance.

Toano, Va. – Lumber Liquidators reported impressive gains in net income and sales during the second quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income rose almost 68% to $20.4 million from $12.2 million in the second quarter of the previous year, while net sales grew 22% to $257.1 million from $210.3 million.

Same-store sales increased 14.9%, driven by a 9.1% increase in the number of customers invoiced and a 5.4% increase in the average sale.  

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer will open its first supercenter in the city of Detroit, at the Gateway Marketplace shopping center, on July 25. The 190,000-sq.-ft. store will include fresh produce and a full-service, drive-thru pharmacy walk-in health screenings, immunizations and specially trained diabetes-care pharmacists.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — PepsiCo reported net revenue of $16.8 billion for the second quarter of 2013, a 2% increase from $16.4 billion for the same quarter last year.

Structural changes, principally the refranchising of the company's beverage operations in Vietnam and China, negatively impacted reported net revenue performance by nearly 1% and foreign exchange translation had a 1.5% unfavorable impact in the quarter. Adjusted to exclude the impact of foreign currency translation and structural changes, revenue grew 4.2%.

Pittsburgh — GNC Holdings has announced that it is expanding its retail presence in China with the opening of its first stand-alone store in Shanghai. GNC plans to open an additional 25 locations in China over the next 12 months.

The company currently operates more than 60 store-within-a-store locations in eight grocery, convenience and health and wellness chains in China.