Strategy

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — The Ikea Foundation, with the help of its customers and employees, have donated $12 million to UNICEF and Save the Children for projects that will help create opportunities for children to have access to a quality education.

Columbus, Ohio – Bob Evans Farms said Tuesday it will divest its Mimi’s Café restaurant chain, selling it to LeDuff America – owner of Bruegger’s Bagels – for $50 million.

LeDuff America, a subsidiary of French bakery conglomerate Groupe LeDuff SA, will add the 145 Mimi’s units to its current portfolio of café-bakeries and coffee shops, including La Madeleine Country French Cafe, Brioche Doree, Bruegger's Bagels, Timothy's Coffee and Michel's Baguette.

Walmart's U.K. chain, Asda, is optimizing its distribution operations by incorporating Isotrak vehicle-tracking, along with Paragon routing and scheduling software.

The new system has enabled Asda to implement a new regional distribution structure.

New York -- J.C. Penney will leave the Martha Stewart name off some of its upcoming décor and housewares lines despite the pair’s multi-million dollar partnership, according to a Tuesday report by the New York Post.

Citing unnamed sources, The Post said that while the Martha Stewart name will appear on window treatments, the brand will be mostly missing from key categories such as bedding, linens and kitchenware.

New York City -- Saks Inc. announced Tuesday it will shutter its Saks Fifth Avenue store in the Dallas Galleria on June 15. The retailer has operated a store in Dallas since 1982, and the summer closing will leave some 120 associates with the choice of transfer or severance.

Simultaneous with the Saks departure announcement was news from department store chain Belk that it will fill the vacated Galleria space with a $20-million, 170,000-sq.-ft. flagship store that starts construction in July and is slated to open spring 2014. 

CHICAGO — An appreciation for human-crafted goods and growth in automated payment solutions are among the trends Mintel predicts will be impacting consumer behavior in the next five to 10 years.

London -- A Tuesday report by Bloomberg said that Tesco Plc may be recovering from its financial doldrums, as the country’s largest supermarket chain has matched market growth for the first time in more than 18 months.

Citing Kantar Worldpanel’s latest market share figures, Bloomberg said that at Tesco stores rose 3.3% in the 12 weeks ended Jan. 20, the same pace as the industry. Growth exceeded Wal-Mart Stores’ Asda and J Sainsbury, which gained 2.1% and 3.2% respectively.

AUSTIN, Texas — Starmount, a software provider focused on helping retailers optimize the shopper experience, has named software development veteran John Filut its new VP operations. Filut will play a crucial role in planning and executing internal operations and processes, including project management best practices and refining the development and delivery of Starmount services and support strategy. In this new role, Filut will also provide overall planning and management of IT.