Strategy

One of the more interesting developments in the retail industry is set to unfold in a series of small towns along the Western edge of Arkansas where Walmart is set open the first of its experimental small formats.

New York City -- Veteran retailer Leo Kahn, who developed his family-owned wholesale business into the Purity Supreme chain, co-founded Staples, and pioneered selling natural foods in supermarket-sized venues, died on Wednesday in Boston. He was 94.

Turns out Shakespeare’s famous line, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” doesn’t quite fit with every scenario. Case in point, Wal-Mart Stores, which, according to Millward Brown Optimor’s BrandZ ranking of the top 20 global retail brands, saw its brand value diminish when it decided to rename its Wal-Mart stores, Walmart. 

New York City -- Target Corp. and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 have settled a dispute regarding which workers may cast ballots in a union election at the retailer's Valley Stream, N.Y., store, paving the way for the National Labor Relations Board to schedule the vote, Crain’s New York reported.

The election next month will apparently be the first at a Target store since 1990, when a union drive failed at a Detroit store.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co. said it is relaunching its WestBend mixed-use development in Fort Worth, Texas.

The move comes after strategically halting construction in fall of 2008 to wait for a recovery in the retail market. The first order of business will be the completion of the seven-level garage providing 798 parking spaces to serve the existing office buildings and restaurants. Additional new retail construction is slated to begin in mid-2012 with a grand opening projected for late 2013.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Shopping center owner and developer Regency Centers said it has implemented Textura Corp.’s Pre-Qualification Management in the company’s East Region. 

Regency was already using the Construction Payment Management (CPM) system, then engaged Textura to deploy its Pre-Qualification Management (PQM) system.

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. -- Fameco Real Estate announced that it is opening an office in center city Philadelphia to better accommodate the growth of its clientele in the market. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores is buying a minority stake in online company Yihaodian, which sells groceries, consumer electronics, clothing and other items. Terms of the deal and the size of the stake were not disclosed.

The deal will help expand the Wal-Mart’s reach into China, where it has 328 stores (as of Dec. 31, 2010).