Real Estate

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corp. announced Monday that Kathleen Guion, division president of store operations and store development, will retire from the company effective July 31, 2012.

According to Dollar General, during her tenure Guion oversaw more than 9,500 stores in 35 states and revamped the company’s real estate strategy. Before assuming her current role in November 2005, Guion served as executive VP store operations. Prior to joining Dollar General in 2003, she served as president and CEO of Duke and Long Distributing Co.

Canton, Mass. -- Casual Male Retail Group said Monday it has opened a new, 12,663-sq.-ft. Destination XL in Phoenix, which joins five locations in Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Nevada and Tennessee.

The company said it plans to open up to 13 DXL stores during the balance of 2011, another 20-30 stores during 2012 and approximately 100 stores over a four to five year period.

Casual Male also said it is preparing to launch a DXL website, with a multi-channel solution similar to the DXL store experience. 

Dallas -- Venture Commercial Real Estate announced the completion of several transactions that will bring new Carl’s Jr. restaurants to Garland, Balch Springs, Lufkin, and Beaumont, Texas, by the end of the year.

With the addition of these four locations owned and operated by RWJP Star Enterprises, the total number of Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Texas will be 48.

The current upheaval we’re experiencing with booksellers reminds me of those nature documentaries where the host talks about what happens when a giant tree in the forest comes crashing down, leaving a gaping hole in the forest canopy. In those instances, dozens of smaller trees and plants spring up to take advantage of that gap and soak up the new light.

New York City -- Nordstrom plans to open a Nordstrom Rack in Farmington, Conn., located just outside of Hartford. This will be the first Nordstrom Rack in Connecticut.

The new 35,000 sq-ft. store is scheduled to open during spring 2012 at West Farm Shopping Center.
 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Books-A-Million announced the company has submitted a bid in the Borders Inc. bankruptcy proceedings to purchase, among other things, the inventory, fixtures, equipment, and leasehold interests for 30 Borders locations. Under the proposed bid, Books-A-Million will assume the leases for these locations and continue to operate these stores.

Borders Group on Thursday won court approval to liquidate its remaining 399 stores.

New York City -- Mike Boylson, formerly executive VP and CMO of J.C. Penney, has traded retailing for baseball. The 32-year J.C. Penney veteran, who officially stepped down from the company on July 1, and a friend are opening a franchise of D-Bat, a baseball and softball training academy, Advertising Age reported. The facility is due to open this fall.

Walmart is among a group of retailers who further aligned themselves with a key Obama administration initiative this week by committing to open more than 1,500 stores in urban and rural markets defined as food deserts. The initiative is part of the Obama administration’s Let’s Move! campaign designed to address the nation’s weight problem by improving access to fresh foods.

Here are the facts:

• Walmart will open between 275 and 300 stores in food deserts by 2016.