Retail

Atlanta – Havertys reported a 2.5% drop in sales during the first quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to the same period in the prior year, falling to $181.4 million from $186.1 million. Same-store sales declined 0.9%.

Clarence H. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of Havertys, said severe winter weather did not negatively impact all of Havertys locations.

By Dave Bruno, Director of Product Marketing, JDA Software

Dallas – Paragon Software Systems Inc., a provider of vehicle routing and scheduling optimization solutions, is introducing Paragon HDS (Home Delivery System) to the U.S. market. Paragon HDS is designed to enable home delivery and home service companies to offer more accurate delivery times while improving fleet efficiency.

Montmartre, France — Le Coq Rico, a popular Montmartre, France, restaurant has signed into its first location in the United States on 20th Street between Park Avenue South and Broadway in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. The space includes 3,000 sq. ft. on the ground floor and 1,800 sq. ft. on the lower level.

Winick realty Group represented landlord Walter Samuels in the long-term lease transaction. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank represented the restaurant.

Washington, D.C. – In a statement submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on April 8, the National Retail Federation (NRF) urged Congress to address what it sees as an increasing threat to retailers: patent trolls. Patent trolls are entities that purchase overly-broad patents with the sole intent of suing retailers and other end-users of technology that allegedly infringe on those patents.

Peoria, Ill. — Cullinan Properties has named Patty Kueneke senior real estate representative. She will lease and sell existing and newly developed properties including the Streets of St. Charles in the St. Louis metro area and the Shoppes at River Hill in Topeka, Kan.

New York -- Meijer is testing an automated system that speeds up the checkout process at its store in Jenison, Mich. The system, from NCR, automatically scans merchandise. It became available customers on April 3, according to MichiganLive.

As shoppers place merchandise on a conveyor belt, the items are scanned, and then sent to one of three collection areas, where customers bag them.

Orlando, Fla. -- Checkpoint Systems Inc. is releasing its new Zephyr 2 RFID label, which is certified by the University of Arkansas’ ARC Center for item-level tagging of all apparel categories in the U.S. and Europe. The Zephyr 2 RFID label design has an integrated UCode 7 chip from NXP Semiconductors, and comes with optimal read/write sensitivity for accurate counting and quicker encoding.