Education

By Gary C. Smith, NAEIR.org

When Children’s Wish Foundation International, an Atlanta-based charity, hosts scrapbooking or craft parties for children in the hospital, it turns to a gifts-in-kind organization and its catalog of donated merchandise for supplies. The two organizations then coordinate shipments of stuffed animals, Halloween costumes, craft materials, toys, videos and other items to hospitals to help fulfill the wishes of children in need.
 

This is not your father’s (or my father’s) RECon. True, the conference wasn’t called that back then, but it is clear to me that this influential annual event is evolving. I see three relatively new RECon trends/developments that I think are significant beyond the conference itself; indicating bigger-picture changes within the broader retail real estate industry:

Stronger international presence

Goodlettsville,Tenn. — Dollar General has awarded grants to more than 593 nonprofit organizations, libraries and schools through the chain's literacy foundation.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears has launched Team Up to Stop Bullying, an anti-bullying initiative designed to bring solutions quickly and effectively to bullying victims, families, educators and communities.

Alice Walton, the daughter of Walmart founder Sam Walton and his wife Helen, is slated to deliver the commencement address at the University of Arkansas on Saturday, May 12.

Cindy Davis, Walmart’s EVP global customer insights and analytics, is set to headline the second annual SHOP conference next week presented by MARS Advertising and the Center for Retailing Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

St. Charles, Mo. -- Peoria, Ill.-based Cullinan Properties announced that The Art Institute of St. Louis has signed a lease and will be opening a school at the new Streets of St. Charles mixed-use development, with classes scheduled to begin in July.

The development, located in St. Charles/Metro St. Louis, is currently delivering spaces to all of its phase one tenancy.

The Art Institute of St. Louis is one of The Art Institutes, a system of more than 50 educational institutions located throughout North America.

New York -- Microsoft Corp. and Barnes & Noble have entered into an agreement by which Microsoft will invest $300 million in Barnes & Noble’s digital-book (Nook) business and college texts unit.

With the arrangement, Barnes & Noble's digital and college businesses will become a new, still-to-be-named subsidiary in which Barnes & Noble holds an 82.4% stake and Microsoft owns 17.6%. The agreement also means the two companies have settled their patent dispute.