Starbucks Coffee Co.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Co. is expanding its customer loyalty program to the supermarket channel and its Teavana stores as it looks to double membership from 4.5 million members at the end of October 2012 to approximately nine million members by the end of fiscal 2013.

Starbucks made the announcement at the company’s annual shareholders on Wednesday in Seattle. Also at the meeting, Starbucks investors rejected a shareholder proposal to prohibit the chain from making political contributions or forming a political action committee.

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Target will soft open 21 locations across Southwestern Ontario, including 17 locations on March 19 and four locations on March 28.  The soft openings follow the launch of three pilot stores and will allow Target to continue to engage in volume testing ahead of grand opening in early April. The 21 new locations are in addition to pilot stores in Guelph, Milton and Fergus, and will complete the 24 stores scheduled to open in March. Target plans to open 124 stores across Canada throughout 2013.

Prattville, Ala. -- Brentwood, Tenn.-based GBT Realty said that it is bringing Starbucks Coffee, Aspen Dental and Firehouse Subs to Cobbs Ford Village, a new, in-line shopping center located in Prattville, Ala., in the Montgomery MSA. 


Cobbs Ford Village is approximately 2.52 acres and will house several additional tenants that are now in the beginning stages of signing leases. Groundbreaking for the center will be this April, with an estimated opening date of spring 2014.

Mississauga, Ontario -- Target announced that it is opening three pilot stores in Ontario on March 5 at Stone Road in Guelph, Milton Mall Shopping Centre in Milton and Gates of Fergus in Fergus. The three pilot stores are the first Target locations to open in Canada, and the first of 124 Target stores that will open across the country throughout 2013.
 

New York -- The SPECS conference, presented each year by Chain Store Age, will debut a real estate track as part of the 49th annual event. Held in Dallas from March 17 to March 20 at the Hilton Anatole, SPECS will feature real estate workshops designed toward educating and informing the retail development executives who attend the SPECS conference.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- The shopping app Shopkick on Wednesday announced that Nielsen ranked Shopkick No. 34 out of approximately 1 million apps in December 2012. While still trailing giants like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter overall, Shopkick dominated the shopping category during the holiday season, with more frequent and prolonged usage than all physical retailers' own apps including Starbucks, Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger and Safeway, the app developer noted.

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Shopkick, a shopping app, on Wednesday announced that Nielsen ranked shopkick No. 34 out of approximately 1 million apps in December 2012. While still trailing giants like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter overall, Shopkick dominated the shopping category during the holiday season, with more frequent and prolonged usage than all physical retailers' own apps including Starbucks, Walmart, Walgreens, Kroger and Safeway, the app developer noted. 

New York -- Tata Starbucks Limited, the 50/50 joint venture between Starbucks Coffee Company and India’s Tata Global Beverages Limited, opened Starbucks’ first location in New Delhi. The store is designed to celebrate the heritage and history of the city.