Corporate Governance

RadioShacks extends its Fix It service
RadioShack’s same-day mobile repair service, branded as Fix it Here!, has been extended to more locations in the Chicago market.

The service is billed as a first-of-its-kind from a national retailer and offers owners of broken mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones the ability to have them repaired the same day, typically in less than two hours, for prices starting at $39.99.
Nearly half of U.S. merchant terminals to accept EMV chip in 2015
New York -- At least 47% of U.S. merchant terminals will be enabled for EMV chip technology by the end of 2015, according to the Payments Security Task Force (PST). The estimates are based on forecasts provided by acquirers representing approximately 80% of U.S. purchase volume.

Obama signs order supporting move to EMV; American Express offers program to boost adoption

Washington -- As part of an executive order unveiled on Friday, President Obama set a new policy that requires newly issued and existing government credit and debit cards to be enabled with chip and personal identification number (PIN) technology.
Industry Commentary: C-stores evolving quickly amid rising expectation

Las Vegas -- Today’s convenience stores face growing pressure to evolve amid the ramped-up expectations of global consumers, according to remarks made by Joseph Bona, president of branded environments at brand agency and retail design consultancy CBX, and Dan Munford, managing firector of U.K.-based Insight, convenience and petroleum retail strategy specialists, at the National Association of Convenience Stores’ annual convention in Las Vegas.
September retail sales show weakness

Washington, D.C. -- September retail sales, excluding automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, decreased 0.1% seasonally adjusted month-to-month yet increased 4.6% unadjusted year-over-year. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), seasonal factors played a role, but the drop-off from August was worse than expected.
Savills Studley promotes Stephen G. Berliner to executive VP, New York tri-state region

New York, N.Y. -- Savills Studley, a global commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation, announced the promotion of Stephen G. Berliner executive VP & branch sanager, New York Office to executive VP, New York Tri-State Region.
The Fresh Market opens at The Village at Livingston

Livingston, N.J. -- The Fresh Market celebrated its official opening at The Village At Livingston with “cracking the parmesan,” a centuries-old art and company tradition. The store, which occupies 23,000 sq.ft at the 93,000-sq.-ft. shopping center managed and developed by Eastman Companies, marks the upscale specialty grocer’s third location in New Jersey.
Starbucks boosting pay and relaxing dress code for workers; gives OK to tattoos

Seattle – Starbucks Coffee Co. is increasing the pay and relaxing the dress code of its U.S. store employees to allow for tattoos and other forms of self-expression to show.
Urban Outfitters warns on Q3 earnings

Philadelphia –- Urban Outfitters Inc. is warning that continued negative same-store sales in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 may have an impact on quarterly earnings. The specialty apparel chain said declining same-store sales could deleverage gross profit margin for the third quarter at a rate greater than during the first half of the year, leading to dampened profits.
Report: Alibaba partners with Quixey for mobile search

Hangzhou, China –- Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. is reportedly partnering with search startup Quixey Inc. to provide deep mobile search functionality into apps. According to the Wall Street Journal, Alibaba is integrating deep-linking technology from Quixey into its YunOS mobile operating system, with the goal of enabling users to find data held within apps without opening the apps.
Target Canada opens three new stores

Mississauga, Ont. -- Target Canada is opening three new stores Oct. 17, located in Ottawa, Ont; Sheridan Centre in Mississauga, Ont. and Polo Park in Winnipeg, Man. The opening of the three new stores marks the final stores scheduled to open in 2014 and brings the total number of Target Canada stores open across the country to 133.
IHL: Epicor number one POS software vendor

Dublin, Calif. -- Epicor Software Corp., a provider of business software solutions for retail, manufacturing and distribution, has been named the number one vendor of POS software among the 200 leading specialty soft goods retailers and hard goods retailers for the fourth consecutive year in studies published by global research and advisory firm IHL Group. Epicor also was named a leader in the fast growing North American mobile POS software market, according to another new research report from IHL Group.