Starbucks Coffee Co.

Seattle – Starbucks Corp. is taking the bakery store brand it acquired in 2012 in house. The coffee giant said it plans to close all 23 La Boulange retail (bakery café) locations, as well as the two baking facilities serving the locations, by the end of September. The retailer said it determined that La Boulange stores are “not sustainable for the company’s long-term growth.”

Seattle – Starbucks Corp. is expanding its mobile order and payment service to about 3,400 stores in 21 new states in the southern and central United States. The company launched mobile order and payment feature as a pilot in Portland, Ore. in Dec. 2014.

The mobile payment feature allows Starbucks mobile app users to place their order in advance and pick it up at a selected Starbucks location. It is integrated into the Starbucks app and loyalty program.

The TPN division of global marketing and corporate communications giant Omnicon has worked with Walmart and its supplier community for more than 10 years and now that it has a physical presence in Northwest Arkansas the retail marketing agency is ready for some serious growth.

TPN, which stand for The Promotion Network, is part of Omnicon’s Diversified Agency Services division. TPN recently open an office in Bentonville and tapped John Meyer to lead the organization which is part of TPN’s 300 person organization with nine offices nationwide.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. — Kohl’s on Thursday announced a series of organizational changes, including the promotion of Michelle Gass to the newly created principal officer position of chief merchandising and customer officer. Gass joined Kohl’s in 2013 as chief customer officer from Starbucks, where she is credited with playing a key role in the coffee giant’s turnaround  several years back.    

Kohl’s Corp. has appointed an ex-Starbucks executive as its next chief merchandising and customer officer.

The retailer announced that Michelle Gass has been appointed to the newly created principal officer position of CMCO. In this new capacity, Gass has assumed oversight of all of Kohl's merchandising, planning and allocation, and product development functions. She will continue to report to Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman, chief executive officer and president.

New York -- Bloomingdale’s chairman and CEO Tony Spring talked about one of the company’s top-selling products (frozen yogurt!) and much more on Tuesday at the Retail Marketing Society’s “Reinventing the Store” conference in New York.

Here are 10 take-away quotes from his presentation:

“Our Forty Carrots frozen yogurt is one of our best-selling items. We have customers who come into our store five times a week for it.”

Des Moines, Iowa - Two leases have been signed for ground-floor retail space at The Foundry in Ames, Iowa, including Starbucks. Committed tenants for the luxury student housing complex near Iowa State University also include Barefoot Campus Outfitter.

Seattle – Director Martin Scorcese is renowned for providing great soundtracks to his films, and Starbucks Coffee Co. is attempting to follow in his footsteps in its stores. Starbucks and music streaming service Spotify will establish a multi-year relationship that will link its 7,000 U.S. company-operated stores in the U.S. and My Starbucks Rewards loyalty members with Spotify’s global users.