Corporate Governance

Starbucks knows a thing or two about developing business across channels, and on-demand, app-based grocery delivery service Shipt is bringing that expertise in-house.

Birmingham, Alabama-based Shipt has named Joe Manning, former Starbucks director of business and channel development, to lead business development. Shipt is looking to Manning to establish and grow partnerships with grocers and CPG companies as the company expands.

Nike’s newest factory store, in Lubbock, Texas, draws inspiration from the area’s local sport culture, with special emphasis on its deep roots in football.

The local imagery in the store includes a declaration to be “Texas Tested,” which responds to the famous suggestion that if you can pass the Texas test, you can pass any test.

Delays in the required certification of payment terminals that accept credit and debit cards with embedded chips are frustrating many retailers, particularly midsized ones, and also costing them as, since Oct. 1, stores that cannot accept chip cards have had to shoulder the cost of fraud — and banks are not shy about passing along the bill, the New York Times reported.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store in Port Hueneme, California on March 5.

The 23,000-sq.-ft. foot store is located at Mandalay Village Marketplace, 63 miles northwest of Los Angeles and 40 miles south of Santa Barbara, along Channel Islands Boulevard and Wheelhouse Avenue.

With this location, Ross operates 278 stores in California, its largest state. The opening is part of the retailer’s 2016 expansion program that will see it open some 70 new locations during the year.

Francesca’s says its fourth quarter financial results show that the retailer's growth initiatives are bearing fruit, as the company posted a big jump in same-store sales over the holidays.

For the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Jan. 30, same-store sales at Francesca's increased 11%. Net sales increased 25% to $134.6 million from $107.6 million in the prior year quarter.Net income totaled $14.7 million, or 35 cents diluted earnings per share, compared to $6.0 million, or 14 centsdiluted earnings per share, in the comparable prior year period.

Ethnic grocery chain H Mart is expanding its partnership with Instacart nationally.

Lyndhurst, New Jersey-based H Mart, which operates more than 45 U.S. and Canadian stores, specializes in Asian grocery products. H Mart is now offering Instacart deliveries in as little as one hour to consumers in Philadelphia. Coming soon, the retailer will also offer Instacart services in markets including Orange County, Washington, D.C., suburbs, Atlanta, Chicago suburbs, Los Angeles, and Houston. Instacart prices will match H Mart in-store prices.

Companies of all sizes, and increasingly retailers, are implementing integrated portfolio management solutions to make smarter real estate decisions and solve their business challenges.

To better support retailers with their real estate portfolios, JLL announced that it has welcomed back Geno Coradini to the firm as executive VP, retail integrated portfolio services lead. He will be responsible for working with our retail tenant representative brokers nationally to support JLL’s retailer client base.

Brick-and-mortar retailers are on notice – shifting customer demographics will require far-reaching redesign of the physical store by 2025.

According to a new study from technology market intelligence firm ABI Research, millennials are driving a revolution in how stores use technology to provide a shopping experience.

While the annual South By Southwest festival was underway in Austin, regional department store operator Belk was connecting with its core customers in the southeast by hosting a festival of its own.

Target Corp.’s partnership with MIT Media Lab and global design firm IDEO is bearing fruit — literally.