Strategy

FREEPORT, Maine — L.L.Bean announced that, effective March 25, it will offer free standard shipping to all United States and Canadian.

“We tested free shipping offers with no minimum purchase for several months and the customer response was overwhelming,” said Chris McCormick, president and CEO, L.L.Bean. “Our customers want and value free shipping. It’s our opportunity to offer free shipping for all U.S. and Canadian customers with no minimum purchase, no end date, no conditions -- guaranteed.”

DULUTH, Ga. -- NCR Corp. announced that the current release (version 5) of its NCR SelfServ Checkout solution has won a Good Design Award for product design excellence in the electronics category.

Dollar General maintained its momentum in 2010 by achieving record sales, profits and expansion and it’s looking like 2011 will bring more of the same. Last year, Dollar General opened 600 new stores and remodeled or relocated another 504 units to end its fiscal year on Jan. 28 with 9,372 stores. The additional square footage combined with a 4.9% same store sales increase enabled the company to grow total sales by 10.5% to roughly $13 billion.

Encino, Calif. -- NAI Capital announced it has appointed Vicki R. Donkin as senior VP within the firm’s Ontario, Calif., office, effective immediately.

Donkin, who will specialize in investment and land sales/leasing, and marketing and cost benefit analyses for retail and non-retail properties, was previously VP with Present Value Properties of Tustin, Calif., where she marketed tenant and landlord big-box locations.
 

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co. said that Vince O’Toole has joined the company as senior VP leasing, effective March 7.
 
O’Toole will lead the specialty store leasing efforts for Santa Fe Place mall in Santa Fe, N.M., and serve as the leasing team leader for Watters Creek in Allen, Texas.  Additionally, he will work on new business for Trademark.

He joins Trademark from Cousins Properties, Atlanta.

Chicago -- Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Mid-America Asset Management said that Dollar Tree recently signed a lease for 10,900 sq. ft. at West Aurora Plaza in West Aurora, Ill., a western suburb of Chicago.

The new store is slated to open this June in a former Aronson Furniture space.
 

Beachwood, Ohio -- Developers Diversified Realty Corp. announced Friday it has furthered its commitment to risk management with the formalization of its Enterprise Risk Management Program.

The new program, according to Developers Diversified, is an integration of strategy, process, people and technology that promotes the identification, prioritization, ownership and management of the company's critical risks.

New York City -- Borders Group, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February and has announced plans to close about a third of its stores, said it plans to pay key employees as much as $8.3 million in incentives and retention bonuses, Bloomberg reported.

The retailer asked a judge to approve its plan in a filing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Courty in New York. Borders said it has historically compensated employees through incentives.

New York City -- Save Mart Supermarkets saved more than $8,000 on a high-efficiency LED lighting retrofit of store in Ripon, Calif., through a partnership with the EnergySmart Jobs program.

Save Mart is distinguished as one of the first participants in the federally-funded program, which is an initiative of Energy Upgrade California and is administered by PECI, San Francisco. It focuses on creating new jobs through the implementation of energy-saving upgrades that help commercial retailers lower their operating costs.

New York City -- Optimism was in the air at Chain Store Age’s 47th annual SPECS conference, in Grapevine, Texas. Spirits were up, and so was attendance, dramatically so, among both the show’s attendees and exhibitors.