Strategy

In his newest column, Retail Rap with Jeff Green, Chain Store Age columnist Green examines the early uptick in medical users in retail centers and questions why the trend has apparently stalled.

Click here to read Green's column.

New York City -- What topics interested retailers most in the first half of 2011? The most popular stories with chainstoreage.com readers from January through June ran the gamut, from the top 10 retail markets for 2011 to Dollar General’s ambitious expansion. Take a look at our top 10 most popular stories: 
 
1. Top 10 retail markets for 2011

Tustin, Calif. -- Real estate brokerage firm Present Value Properties said Tuesday that Britt Nelson has joined the company as VP.

Previously founder and president of NewCity Development, Nelson was responsible for site selection, acquisition, and procurement of development projects. Other responsibilities included coordination of the overall development teams and municipal relations.

Nelson will be working with existing Present Value Properties' clients including Pizza Hut and Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt franchisees.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens said Wednesday that its sales were up 6.8% in June, as more customers came to its stores and spent more money per trip. Same-store sales rose 4.8%.  Revenue increased to $6.04 billion from $5.65 billion.

Pharmacy revenue rose 6.2% and front-end sales were up 6.4%. The chain said monthly customer traffic rose 1.3% compared to June 2010, and customers spent 3.4% more per trip.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Off-price retailer Ross Stores will celebrate the opening of its 1000th Ross Dress for Less store, in North Pleasant Hill, Calif., on July 16.

The new store is Ross’ 50th location in the Bay Area. The company operates more than 1000 Ross Dress for Less and dd's Discounts locations.

Last week Janney Montgomery Scott analyst David Strasser downgraded shares of Target to neutral from buy. He offered a litany of things that could go wrong with the Target story, which were subsequently refuted by someone named Will Ashworth on the website “Investopedia.”

Such retailers as Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, JCPenney, Lowe’s and Walmart are part of an organization called the Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT) that is pushing a new approach designed to reduce emissions at the nation’s ports. The retailers along with Hewlett Packard, Nike and a host of leading transportation providers have teamed with the Environmental Defense Fund and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to launch a program called, “EPA SmartWay Drayage Program.”

The first Target stores in Canada won’t open until 2013, but the company recently announced it retained MDC Partners to lead the development of its overall marketing efforts. According to the company, the MDC integrated team is being led by kbs+p Canada and Veritas Communications, along with support from Northstar Research Partners and BOOM! Marketing. 

Shoppers face a lot of economic headwinds this back-to-school season, but one forecaster has seasonal sales growing by 6.2% to $467 billion, the most since 2006.

That’s according to retail consultants Customer Growth Partners’ annual BTS forecast, which defies warnings of a double-dip recession and sees American households as being more resilient with their back-to-school spending during the July through September time frame.

LONDON  — Asda announced last week that Judith McKenna, the company's current finance director, is to take the reins as the retailer’s COO, effective September.

Judith, who joined Asda more than 15 years ago, has led Asda’s finance functions as CFO since 2001.

As COO she will take on leadership of all Asda’s retail operations, including its stores, distribution network and IT systems.