Events

Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon delivered an optimistic message about Walmart U.S.’s performance during the first quarter and its potential for the coming year during a presentation at a Morgan Stanley conference in Boston Wednesday. Ahead of the Walmart’s upcoming shareholders’ meeting, Simon talked about leveraging a more efficient supply chain to drive costs down, lower prices and improve traffic and shared insights on the company’s plans for growth in the second quarter and beyond.

Voorhees, N.J. -- Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust said that Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant will open its 10th location at Voorhees (N.J.) Town Center in winter 2012/2013.

This will be the second Iron Hill in southern New Jersey.

I’m just back from the retail real estate industry’s annual confab, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ RECon, in Las Vegas. As part of the event, Faith Hope Consolo, chairman, Prudential Douglas Elliman, hosted a panel discussion of retailers at the Women’s Special Industry Group meeting. Here are some of the more notable quotes from the discussion:

Brenda Godfrey, VP global store development, Starbucks Coffee Co.

Las Vegas -- SkyVue, a 500-sq.-ft. observation wheel taking shape on the Las Vegas Strip, across from Mandalay Bay, has completed the first phase of construction, and has begun excavation on its retail and dining components.

Each side of the wheel will feature a 50,000-sq.-ft. LED screen (the largest in the world), that will host concerts, sporting events, product launches and more. The two-story shopping and dining experience will feature 140,000 sq. ft. of retail space, a 21,000-sq.-ft. convention facility and a food court.

The Walmart Visitor Center, Downtown Bentonville, and Bentonville public schools, today, will unveil the Wal-Art Student Mural on the Bentonville Square.

The University of Arkansas RFID Research Center will finally receive a home of its own. The center, which was founded in 2005 as part of the Information Technology Research Institute in The Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas will be housed at 1637 Fred Hanna Drive in Fayetteville. This will be the third location for the research center since it was founded.

Walmart and the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation have teamed up to donate $1 million to fund the renovation and expansion of the current Sam M. Walton College of Business display, honoring Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton. Each organization donated $500,000 to update the display in the Business Administration Building on the University of Arkansas campus. 

Juan Pablo Montoya and the Target team fell short of claiming a spot in the Sprint All-Star race at the Sprint Showdown on Saturday night. The No. 42 Target Chevrolet was in contention for a top transferring spot until a mishap in the final segment relegated it to a fifth-place finish.