Retail

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- “The Chore Score,” an app that allows parents to create chore lists for their kids with rewards that can be redeemed at Sears stores or Sears.com, won the recent Sears Startup & Developer Challenge. The contest, held for three days, featured more than 150 participants using the Sears development API to create apps that would strengthen the experience of the Sears Shop Your Way membership program.

Whether it's a remodel or new construction, paint is one of a retailer's most essential and cost-effective design tools. Chain Store Age spoke with Jim Gorman, of Benjamin Moore & Co., about how paint is being affected by technology and environmental concerns. The company, founded in 1883, manufactures its own resins and colorants, and has more than 3,400 colors in its collection.

What is the most common mistake retailers make when it comes to painting?

New York -- Mitchell Klipper, CEO of Barnes & Noble’s retail group., sold off two-thirds of his stock holdings in Barnes & Noble between Aug. 22 and Aug. 26 of this year. An SEC filing indicates that Klipper sold 400,000 of roughly 600,000 shares he held in the company, grossing more than $5.5 million.

WOODBURY TOWN CENTER

Location: Irvine, Calif. (SR 133 —the Laguna Freeway and the I-5 Santa AnaFreeway)

Size: 462,000 sq. ft.

Developer: Irvine Co. Retail Properties

Grocery anchors: Ralphs Fresh Fare, Trader Joe's

Key tenants: Home Depot, LA Fitness, Walgreens, Staples

Status: Open and operating since 2007

Provigo, a division of Canada’s Loblaw Cos., has opened the second location under its new Provigo Le Marché banner, a flagship in the Montreal suburb of Kirkland. The 82,000-sq.-ft. store combines the convenience and variety of a full-service supermarket with a food market-styled layout. It offers an expanded range of fresh products, and gives center stage to local and regional items.

Greenwood Village, Colo. — Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has announced the opening of two new restaurants. The first will open in Canton Crossing, Md., and Inner Harbor location in downtown Baltimore in late September. The second will open in Monroeville, Pa., at The District at Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh in early October.

NEW YORK — Tiffany & Co. saw sales growth and an improved operating margin for the second quarter ended July 31, fueled largely by its performance in China. 

The company’s total sales in the Americas region were lackluster, increasing 2% to $444 million in the second quarter. Comparable-store sales remained flat for the quarter.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS

It's no secret that the volume of returned items goes up dramatically during the holidays, and providing a streamlined returns mechanism that effectively guards against fraud is a big and often overlooked part of the in-store holiday experience. Here are two solutions that take a slightly different approach to helping retailers deliver a returns process that rewards good customers, while detecting those with less savory motives.