Corporate Governance

Columbus, Ohio -- Express Inc. reported a profitable second quarter of fiscal 2013, with year-over-year increases in net income, net sales and same-store sales. Net income rose 7% to $16.8 million, in line with Wall Street expectations, from $15.9 million. The retailer raised its full-year guidance and also announced plans to launch its outlet business in the second quarter of next year.

Net sales for the quarter increased a better-than-expected 7% to $486.2 million, from $454.9 million.

Naperville, Ill. -- OfficeMax Inc. announced the opening of its first Chicago-area Business Solutions Center format, with a 3,900-sq.-ft. location in the Streeterville neighborhood.

St. Louis – Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is publicly accusing Walgreens of charging customers more for some products at the cash register than their advertised price in the store aisle. According to Bloomberg, Koster said Missouri will sue Walgreens for false and misleading advertising after a two-month undercover investigation of eight stores in cities including St. Louis, Kansas City and Jefferson City.

Old Bridge, N.J. — R.J. Brunelli & Co. has announced that it has been retained as exclusive real estate broker in several New Jersey counties for three fast casual chains: BurgerFi, Corner Bakery Café and Tommy’s Coal Fired Pizza. All three restaurants are seeking end-cap or freestanding pad locations with outdoor seating in lifestyle centers, power centers and other high-traffic locations, in areas offering high daytime and residential populations.

Purchase, N.Y. — National Realty & Development Corp. www.nrdc.com has announced that Old Navy and GNC will open stores at Orange Plaza, an 815,000-sq.-ft. power center in Middletown, N.Y. Old Navy has taken 13,500 sq. ft. GNC will occupy 1,500 sq. ft.

Wal-Mart Supercenter, The Home Depot, Kohl’s Department Store, Burlington Coat Factory, Marshalls, Bed Bath & Beyond and Staples anchor the center, which draws from a 12-mile radius with a population of 157,000.
 

St. Louis — Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team recently brokered the sale of the 112,300-sq.-ft. South Oaks Plaza located in St. Louis for $9.5 million to Phillips Edison-ARC Shopping Center REIT Inc. Shop’n Save, Walgreens and Michaels anchor the center.

Mid-America

and Pace Properties represented the seller, a private St. Louis based investment group.

New York -- iPic-Gold Class Entertainment has announced that it will develop a mixed-use entertainment, office and retail project in Delray Beach, Fla.

Expected to open in 2015, the project includes a 529-seat eight-screen theater. iPic said the project would create more than 400 jobs and attract more than 400,000 visitors annually to downtown Delray Beach. The company currently operates nine theaters with 67 screens in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Zarbee's Naturals has elected Neil Grimmer, co-founder and CEO of Plum Organics, to the company's board of directors.

“Neil is a mastermind when it comes to developing ideas, products and brands, and we are thrilled that he is joining Zarbee's board of directors,” stated Zak Zarbock, founder of Zarbee's Naturals.

Walgreens has entered into a partnership with Orlando Health, a comprehensive nonprofit healthcare organization based in Orlando, Fla., to provide coordinated and expanded healthcare services to its customers. 

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Chico's FAS’s financial results for the second quarter ended Aug. 3 were affected by a lower transaction count and average dollar sales, primarily because of lower traffic and the cycling of strong comparable sales last year.

The company reported net income of $43.6 million for the quarter — a decrease of 18.4% compared to $53.4 million in the year-ago quarter, and earnings per diluted share of $0.27, a decrease of 15.6% compared to $0.32 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter.