Retail

Seattle – Nordstrom plans to open its third fulfillment center at Conewago Industrial Park in Elizabethtown, Pa. Work has begun on the approximately 672,000-sq.-ft. building, with an additional 470,000-square foot mezzanine, which is scheduled to open in summer 2015, and the company is taking bids.

Framingham, Mass. – Staples, Inc. is launching a new technology trade-in program. Staples already recycles electronic office products for free and now small businesses and consumers can trade-in a variety of used technology devices for Staples eCash Cards, which can be used in Staples stores or on Staples.com.

PassBee Media is rolling out a new iBeacon location-based marketing solution. The application is aimed at allowing retailers to target indoor or in-store consumers for increasing foot traffic, engagement, and sales.

PassBee’s iBeacon solution delivers in-store push notifications designed to create a more personalized experience and increase same-customer and same-store sales. For example; a customer checking out a particular outfit, could be served up customized suggestions for accessories to compliment it elsewhere in the store.

Hearts On Fire is showing off its new store design at the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia, Pa. The location is part of Hearts On Fire's global expansion plan, and is designed to transform the way consumers relate to and buy fine diamond jewelry in malls nationwide.

New York --- Brookshire Brothers, based in Lufkin, Texas, has entered into an agreement to David's Supermarkets, a 25-store chain based in North Central Texas. Terms were not disclosed.

"We feel like these family-owned stores align with our core value that we are a celebration of family and community," stated Jerry Johnson, president and CEO of Brookshire Brothers. 

Brookshire Brothers operates 123 outlets including grocery stores, convenience stores, free standing pharmacy, tobacco and petro locations.

As always, the NRF Conference & Exposition went by in a blur, but looking back on three jam-packed days of industry insight and networking, a few trends kept coming up again and again. Seamless retail, full mobilization of customers and employees, and item-level RFID tagging stood out as topics of interest among exhibitors and attendees. Following are a few thoughts about each of these trends that will help shape the direction of retail in the year ahead.

Seamless Retailing – Moving Beyond Omni-channel

Tucson, Ariz. — Lee & Associates Arizona has negotiated the $24.8 million sale of the River Center, a 117,563-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by Whole Foods and Petco. Located on East River Road in the Catalina Foothills of northeastern Tucson, the center posted a cap rate of 5.5%.

Lee & Associates Arizona represented the buyer, Global Retail Investors LLC, a subsidiary of First Washington Realty of Bethesda, Md., and the seller, River Center Canada.

River Center was constructed in 1986 and remodeled in 1997 and 2013.

City of Commerce, Calif. — 99¢ Only Stores will open a new 20,000-sq.-ft. Las Vegas location on Jan. 23. The new store will feature a perishable food department, with produce, dairy and frozen foods.

The new store will kick off its grand opening celebration by selling Westinghouse 40-in. flat-screen TVs for only 99 cents to the first nine customers in line. In addition, anyone in line by 7:45 a.m. will receive a raffle ticket for a chance to win the tenth Westinghouse 40-in. flat-screen TV.