Sustainability

New York – Give your project the recognition it deserves — enter Chain Store Age’s 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The entry deadline is December 23, 2013.

More than 20 competition categories are featured, including department stores, supermarkets, discounters, restaurants, convenience stores, specialty stores, service, sustainability and pop-up stores. This year, for the first time, the competition also includes the category of in-store digital innovation.

Gloucester City, N.J. — Nest International, a leading facility maintenance management firm, has appointed Joni Mayo to the position of VP of sales. Mayo brings 30 years of proven sales, marketing and operations leadership experience. Mayo joins Nest from Sylvania Lighting Services where she led sales in excess of $49 million in 2012.

Peter Freedman was appointed managing director of the Consumer Goods Forum with responsibility for leading the Paris-based organization’s efforts to promote better lives through better business.

Data center retrofit cuts cooling costs by 93%

Retailers are constantly on the hunt for energy savings, and data centers offer huge potential: By 2020, data centers could consume 10% of all U.S. power, according to some experts. Here’s how outdoor gear and apparel retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) is working to reduce energy costs and its environmental footprint in this critical area of operations.

By Scott Thibodeau, [email protected]

Walgreens has opened the nation’s first net zero energy retail store, in Evanston, Ill. (A net zero building produces energy equal to or greater than it consumes.)

The new Walgreens features two wind turbines, nearly 850 solar panels and a geothermal heating and cooling system burrowed 550 ft. into the ground. Combined, the store’s energy-saving technologies and systems are expected to reduce its electricity consumption to 200,000 kilowatt-hours per year, which is about half of an average Chicago-area Walgreens’ store energy footprint.

Okay, maybe not president, but if or when Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon leaves the company after being passed over for the top job, it will be Walmart’s loss and the nation’s benefit if he pursues political office or public service.

Framingham, Mass. – Staples has launched an online ink and toner recycling program. The online program is an expansion of the existing, in-store Staples Rewards ink and toner recycling program.

The online program enables Staples Rewards members to recycle empty ink and toner cartridges by printing a pre-paid shipping label to send their cartridges in for recycling and receive $2 back in Staples Rewards for each one

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores said Mike Duke will retire as president and CEO, effective Feb. 1, 2014, and will be replaced by veteran company executive Doug McMillon. McMillon, 47, president and CEO of Walmart International, was also named to Wal-Mart’s board, effective immediately.