Events

Last week Walmart made headlines when it opened two stores in Washington D.C., drawing a small group of protestors and countless customers. But it seems like these Walmart locations are not quite like the others. BuzzFeed compiled a list of 19 things that make D.C.’s first Walmart stores stand out from the rest.

Click here to read the list.

Bridgeview, Ill. -- Rose Paving Company, a provider of complete parking lot management solutions to commercial and industrial properties nationwide, announced it  raised $7,000 during its year-long, multi-event fundraising campaign benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The donation, presented to St. Jude in December, will help support the lifesaving mission of one of the world’s premier pediatric cancer research centers.

M&M'S World Las Vegas is celebrating the recent opening of its new candy wall — the largest M&M'S candy wall in the world — with a 3-D representation of the wall designed on the sidewalk outside the store.

M&M'S World Las Vegas has partnered with the We Talk Chalk art group to create the three-dimensional chalk rendering.

The wall itself spans more than 62 ft. wide and includes 125 tubes of colorful M&M'S, offering 22 varieties and 11 flavors.

Retail sales in November increased a better-than-expected 0.7% seasonally-adjusted month-to-month, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. The figure includes categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants.

Analysts were expecting sales to rise 0.6% in last month. The latest retail sales numbers were 4.7% above November 2012 numbers.

Retailers usually measure 
the success of project spending by ROI, or "return on investment." ROI measures how many dollars you get back for every dollar you invest. This is a prudent and necessary way of justifying investment in things like IT systems, facilities and processes.

But not everything of value can be measured by simple dollars and cents. How do you measure the return on hope given to hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged children, both in the United States and around the world?

Jupiter, Fla. — The Fresh Market has signed on as anchor tenant at The Shops at Fisherman’s Wharf in Jupiter, Fla., according to Elion Partners, a real estate investment firm that acquired the property in August. The specialty grocer plans to open in the summer of 2014.

Now under renovation, the 5.5-acre shopping plaza will soon resemble a European village with a pedestrian-friendly setting and a selection of new retailers.

The National Retail Federation is calling the short-term budget deal reached by Congress this week a step in the right direction for the economy and for retailers.

In a prepared statement, Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said legislators must move past partisan differences to resolve lingering fiscal issues.

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation (NRF) is calling the short-term budget deal reached by Congress on Dec. 10 a step in the right direction for the economy and for retailers. In a prepared statement, Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said legislators must move past partisan differences to resolve lingering fiscal issues.