Corporate Governance

Baltimore -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said that it has leased space at Festival at Woodholme, located in Baltimore, to Corner Bakery Cafe. 

The fast-casual restaurant leased 3,513 sq. ft. of space and is slated to open in summer 2012. The cafe is the newest addition to an array of new retailers, including Ann Taylor Loft, Francesca’s Collection, Wine Loft and Couture Moda, that recently joined Festival at Woodholme.

Chalfont, Pa. -- Brixmor Property Group announced a 3,200-sq.-ft. Anytime Fitness recently opened at New Britain Village Square, located in Chalfont, Pa. 

Brixmor, based in New York City, is the owner of New Britain Village Square.

New York City -- In a break with longstanding company tradition, Walmart is moving its greeters from its lobbies into the stores near the cash registers, Bloomberg reported.

In their new location, the greeters will be able to direct shoppers to products they are looking for, and also to shorter checkout lines, the report said.

West Bridgewater, Mass. -- Shaw’s Supermarkets has reopened its store in Ludlow, Vt. The store had been closed after being severely damaged by flooding in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.

In addition to repairing the damage from the flooding, Shaw’s invested additional resources to remodel the store, including expanding the store to 19,000 sq. ft., upgrading equipment and adding to offerings in several key categories.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Corp. has entered into a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages Limited that will result in the opening of the first-ever Starbucks locations in India. The 50/50 joint venture, called TATA Starbucks Limited, will own and operate Starbucks cafés, which will be branded as Starbucks Coffee “A Tata Alliance.” (Tata Global Beverages is the world’s second largest tea company and Asia’s largest coffee plantation company.)

Paris -- Carrefour, the second largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart Stores, has selected French retailing veteran Georges Plassat, 62, as its next CEO and chairman.

Walmart will report fourth-quarter and full-year results in a few weeks, and the numbers, while they are sure to be extraordinarily large, will pale in comparison to the superlative-defying figures that Apple posted earlier this week.

Sam’s has enjoyed accelerating same-store sales growth the past two years, and to keep that momentum going chief merchandising officer Linda Hefner is looking for a few good suppliers to commit to a new joint business planning process.

JCPenney got a lot of love this week from investors and the media after the company’s senior leadership unveiled a simplified pricing and promotional strategy that sounded an awful lot like another well-known retailer’s success formula.

Walmart makes a big deal out of its culture, and as a result it invites criticism whenever changes are made to long-standing company policies that are somehow seen as diminishing the culture. That was the case again this week when reports surfaced that people greeters working the overnight shift had been reassigned other duties.