In-Store Media

Major retailers collectively dialed back the number of ads inserts and the number of pages in June when compared to the prior year, according to Market Track. The company each month provides RetailingToday.com with an exclusive look at the promotional activity among 16 of the nation’s leading retailers and the interesting statistic that stands out it June is a huge increase in the number of ad pages that hit the market. Click here for a review of promotional activity.

MINNEAPOLIS — Free Standing Insert coupon activity dropped 3.9% over the first six months of 2011 versus the same time period a year ago, Marx, a Kantar Media solution, reported on Wednesday. 

The decline is the first reported in the first half of the year since 2008, when there was a 3.4% decline. 

“After several years of significant growth, FSI coupon activity may be stabilizing while more integrated print and digital coupon promotion tactics are emerging,” stated Mark Nesbitt, president of Kantar Media Intelligence North America.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven has completed upgrades in more than 1,000 of its stores in the greater New York City, Northern and Central New Jersey, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas. The company also is considering store-remodel programs in other parts of the United States.

SAN ANTONIO — H-E-B announced that Jennette McCurdy, co-star of Nickelodeon’s "iCarly," will star in its new "Gear Up for Back-to-School" ad campaign. The campaign launched Wednesday and runs through Aug. 31 in Texas.

SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets announced it has lowered the prices on 1,600 staple items and that it will freeze these new lower prices for ninety days through Oct. 8.  It is the company's seventh 90-day price freeze program over the past two and a half years.

The Permit Review Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks last week gave Target the green light to incorporate a number of branding elements to the retail space its first CityTarget store will occupy in the Sullivan Center in downtown Chicago.

Renderings of the building show red awnings on the building’s exterior and the company’s Bulls Eye logo visible though the windows of the signature rotunda entrance at the corner of State and Madison streets. There are also wide red banners evenly spaced and visible through exterior windows.

New York City -- British retail giant Tesco Ltd. has broken new ground, creating virtual stores in subway stations in Seoul, South Korea, as a way to make grocery shopping more convenient for the city’s busy urban residents. Tesco launched the unique venture for its Homeplus chain, which operates 115 stores in South Korea. The virtual stores were created by Cheil Worldwide of Korea.

New York City -- Walgreens’ Duane Reade division on Wednesday will open its most ambitious and elaborate store to date, a flagship in downtown Manhattan. The 22,000-sq.-ft. drug store, located at 40 Wall Street, will have an upscale focus, and feature a number of exclusive services and amenities aimed at the Wall Street clientele.