Target, Inc.

Chicago — Transwestern’s Chicago office has brokered the sale of the 236,173-sq.-ft. Deer Grove Shopping Centre in Palatine, Ill., to Ramco Gershenson for $20 million. Transwestern www.transwestern.net represented the seller, C-III Asset Management.

The property is anchored by Dominick’s, a Chicago-based grocer, and national tenants including TJ Maxx/Home Goods, Petco and Staples. A Target and Home Depot shadow anchor the property.

Widening competition for commodity grocery sales is changing grocery-anchored shopping centers.

Supermarket-anchored shopping centers haven't changed much since the invention of suburbia. Find a good location, sign a grocery anchor, get a construction loan and some inline local, regional and maybe national retailers, and you're in business.

Today, however, supermarkets are beginning to change, and supermarket-anchored shopping centers, of course, must follow along.

Why are grocers changing? Competition from all sides.

ATLANTA — Diet Coke is launching a limited-edition T-shirt available exclusively in Target stores.

The T-shirt is the winning design from the second season of the Diet Coke Young Designer Challenge. Part of the brand’s “Stay Extraordinary” platform, the challenge required participants to create an original T-shirt design inspired by Taylor Swift’s style and people who drink Diet Coke. Hundreds of designs from across the country were submitted.

Whatever happened to the customer? It’s a question I’ve been asking myself more and more lately, and one that more than a few national brands should be working harder to answer. At a time when retail is evolving in exciting ways, one of the most disappointing trends over the last several years is a conspicuous (and costly) lack of focus on the customer.

Bakersfield, Calif. — Foot Locker and Victoria’s Secret have expanded and remodeled at the 1.1 million-sq.-ft. Valley Plaza Mall in Bakersfield, Calif. Victoria’s Secret has also opened a new store for the popular PINK brand.

The newly remodeled Foot Locker, now spanning 5,000 sq. ft., plans to introduce an exclusive department called House of Hoops. It will feature elite athletic apparel and footwear.

Millennials and boomers are driving an urban push

Generations after people deserted cities for the suburbs, young millennial-generation adults and older baby-boomer adults are moving back downtown.

Retailers aren't far behind, and new, seemingly instant neighborhoods — complete with housing, retail, offices and other forms of real estate — are springing up in redevelopment areas of cities across the country.

LAS VEGAS — Online retailer 6pm.com has promoted Jay Alexander to the newly created position of senior style adviser. This role was created to reinforce the brand's growth through on-trend, in-season merchandise and respond to customers' requests for access to a style expert. 

In his new role, Alexander will leverage his designer relationships and knowledge of the latest runway and market trends to help customers score the best styles for their entire family — therein giving online consumers the in-store treatment.

New York -- Target Corp. executives discussed the chain’s omni-channel initiatives on the company’s second quarter conference call with investors. Target’s executive VP merchandising and supply chain, Kathryn Tesija highlighted the company's investments in flexible fulfillment, including plans to expand a program allowing customers to buy items online and pick them up at the store the same day, starting in the third quarter.