Corporate Governance

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Curbside, a new startup that specializes in same-day pickup from local stores, launched its service on Monday with several retailers on board, including a pilot with Target Corp.

The new service is currently available in 10 Target stores across the greater San Francisco Bay area, including the retailer’s Metreon and Geary St. locations downtown.  

By Randy Vanderhoof

After large-scale payment data breaches at Target, Sally Beauty, Michaels, Niemen Marcus and the recently confirmed breach at Home Depot, it seems that no retailer is safe from skilled hackers. The incidents also bring to light such questions as “why are payment system breaches happening more frequently?” and “how can they be stopped?”

In this, the eighth installment in CSA's PizzaRev series, we’re featuring a Q&A that pools the expertise of several seasoned franchise operators to highlight the pros and cons of franchising with established brands and new concepts.

The Woodlands, Texas – Conn’s Inc. is considering a sale of the company, as well as splitting up its retail and credit businesses, following a cut in its profit forecasts in its second quarter results. Other options could include reducing the pace of new store openings and returning capital to investors.

Palo Alto, Calif. – HP plans to separate into two new publicly traded Fortune 50 companies: one comprising HP’s enterprise technology infrastructure, software and services businesses, which will do business as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, and one that will comprise HP’s personal systems and printing businesses, which will do business as HP Inc. and retain the current logo.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. - Kohl’s Department Stores is launching a new omnichannel loyalty program called Yes2You Rewards in stores and online nationwide. The program is designed to offer personalized “incentives and surprises,” as well as points for every in-store and online purchase.

New York – Coach Inc. has leveraged the MicroStrategy Analytics Platform and MicroStrategy Mobile to produce automated reporting that provides anytime, anywhere visibility down to the store level. Coach has built an interactive mobile application using MicroStrategy Mobile that provides its retail teams with the ability to examine sales trends for any given geography, including at the individual store level, with a swipe or tap on their iPad devices.

Cincinnati - Phillips Edison–ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. acquired 11 grocery-anchored shopping centers during third quarter 2014. The company's portfolio now consists of 131 properties located in 27 states and leased to 38 leading grocery store anchors.

The 11 grocery-anchored shopping centers acquired during the third quarter to date expanded the company's presence in 10 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Salt Lake City - Spring Mobile, a retailer of AT&T wireless phones and a wholly-owned subsidiary of GameStop Corp., has acquired 53 retail store locations from Product Center. With the addition of the new locations, Spring Mobile now operates 298 stores in 26 states.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open a new store in the Philadelphia area on Oct. 11. The store is located in Pilgrim Gardens in Drexel Hill.  

This new opening is part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.