Corporate Governance

Photo: Brian Woods

Chipotle Mexican Grill is going to test delivering burritos by drones.
 
The Mexican fast-casual brand has teamed up with Project Wing, a unit of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc., to deliver the items to a select group of students and employees at Virginia Tech, USA Today reported.

The test will last a few weeks, the report said, with the drones delivering the food with a winch.  

Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores has appointed Bryan Pugh to the newly created position of executive VP, stores and store operations. He will lead financial, operational and cultural leadership of Jo-Ann Stores.
    
Pugh joins Jo-Ann from Fred’s Pharmacy & Super Dollar where he served as executive VP, chief merchandising and marketing officer. His experience also includes serving as senior VP, chief merchandising officer at Walgreen Co. in addition to several roles of increasing responsibility at Tesco.
 

Saks Fifth Avenue’s new store in New York City is unlike any other the retailer has opened to date.

Located at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan, the 86,000-sq.-ft. store is decidedly smaller than most Saks’ locations. It feels more like a boutique than a department store, with some traditional departments, such as handbags eliminated. (Handbags and certain other products are grouped by brand as opposed to category.) It also boasts such new services as a “power lunch” offering.

Patton Square Shopping Center in Woodruff, South Carolina, has been acquired by Pro Vest Properties for $7.3 million dollars. SRS Real Estate partners brokered the deal for the seller, an affiliate of Chen Development.

“Patton Square is a solid grocery-anchored neighborhood center with minimal competition in the market,” said Pierce Mayson, VP for SRS’ Southeast Investment Sales Team. “With a long-term anchor lease and very solid sales numbers, this asset is an excellent purchase for the buyer.”

Officials in Sarasota, Florida, are envisioning building a mixed-use project on the site of the town’s Ringling Shopping Center, the site over which Walmart lost a fight to build a new store.

The 9.7-acre site could accommodate 222 residential units and 175,000 sq. ft. of office and retail space. Customer traffic at Ringling Shopping Center, Sarasota’s oldest, had fallen off precipitously in recent years.

The fuel retail industry may innovate at a snail’s pace, but Shell Retail is bucking the trend.

Following a year-long proof-of-concept, the gasoline and convenience store retailer is embarking on an iPad-based point-of-sale (POS) deployment at dedicated locations. The robust cloud-based system is designed to centrally manage fuel stations and markets more effectively; ensure compliance with data security standards, and most importantly, improve the customer experience through the point-of-purchase.

Digital retailing is on the rise, but sometimes you just need to speak to a human being.

Online home furnishings retailer Wayfair is making this task even easier for its growing customer base with the opening of a new customer service center in Bangor, Maine. The facility will employ 450 full-time customer service positions, a workforce that will reinforce an already-reputable retail experience among its rapidly growing customer base.

Kroger Co. posted second quarter earnings that topped expectations but the chain cut its guidance for the year citing ongoing price deflation.

"If you look at the price of milk, eggs and commodities like that, they're historically low. Meat continues to be deflationary and produce is on a deflationary trend," Kroger CFO Michael Schlotman said on CNBC on Friday.

The nation’s largest specialty bedding retailer posted disappointing results on Friday for its second quarter.

Mattress Firm Holding Corp. on Friday reported a loss of $2.2 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue increased 48.2% of $980 million, which also fell short of Street forecasts, reflecting incremental sales from acquired and new stores.

Same-store sales fell 1.1%.