Strategy

SANTA MONICA, Calif., VANCOUVER, British Columbia and PARIS --Lionsgate, Studiocanal and Miramax announced that they have entered into a worldwide home entertainment distribution deal. Under the long-term deal, Lionsgate and Studiocanal will distribute more than 550 titles from the Miramax film library via DVD, Blu-ray, EST and Internet Video On Demand (VOD), in addition to cable VOD internationally, the companies reported.

York, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores has signed a letter of intent with Simon Property Group for the 135,000-sq.-ft. former Mervyn's facility located in the Southdale Center in Edina, Minn.

Remodeling of the site is expected to begin in March and be completed in November, at which time Bon-Ton will open a new store under its Herberger’s banner.
The new Herberger’s location will bring the total number of Herberger’s stores to six in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market.

Crain’s New York Business this week reported on an interesting situation involving Walmart and the hype surrounding the company entry into the city. According to author Greg David, “as the opponents of Walmart continue their campaign to prevent the company from opening stores in New York, it remains a mystery how they intend to do that. David notes that the City Council has no power to intervene in leases signed at existing retail locations, and the company seems more determined than ever to take on the Big Apple.

Indianapolis -- MID Retail announced Urban Outfitters has selected MID Advanced Allocation Software to forecast and distribute merchandise for all store locations across its Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, and Free People brands. The MID solution was designed to help multi-store, multi-sku retailers increase accuracy, efficiency and profitability. The system includes both pack and size optimization modules for accurate sku-level allocation and replenishment.

Scottsdale, Ariz. -- Massage Envy announced Thursday the signing of a multi-unit Regional Developer agreement with Sol Glastein for the development of 11 new centers in Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania and Morgantown, W.V.

Glastein has been a Massage Envy franchisee since 2006 and currently operates two centers in New Jersey.

In 2010, Massage Envy opened 43 locations, bringing the total number of locations to more than 650 units operating in 43 states.
 

Walmart has sold AT&T iPhones in its store for several years now so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the company would be offering the iPhone 4 now that it is available on the Verizon network. The company announced availability of the product at 600 of its stores earlier this week, which is consistent with a broader strategy in the electronics and entertainment category to be a leader or at least a fast follower.

Quincy, Mass. -- The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. announced it is using fuel-cell technology, at its store in East Torrington, Conn.

The fuel cell, a UTC Power PureCell System Model 400, was supported with a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund's On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program and is the first fuel-cell utilized by Stop & Shop. It is expected to generate over 90% of the store's electric energy.