Retail

Former J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson is back in the game. Johnson, who prior to joining Penney headed up Apple’s retail store operations for nearly 12 years, is launching a new company — called Enjoy — and contrary to earlier rumors, it’s not an on-demand tech-gadget delivery service. Instead, it’s a service to help online shoppers make the right product choices.

Johnson isn’t divulging much about his new start-up, or exactly what it will offer.

New York -- Consumer confidence in the North America region improved four points to 107 on the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index for the third quarter of 2014. Consumer confidence levels above and below a baseline of 100 indicate degrees of optimism and pessimism, respectively, with the latest results reflecting an outlook of cautious optimism.  

Tailwinds from specialty pharmacy and increased generic utilization lifted CVS Health up on Tuesday, as the company posted net revenues of $35 billion, representing an increase of 9.7% for the three months ended Sept. 30.

Yuma, Ariz. -- Construction is complete on Phase 2 of the Fortuna Commons shopping center, anchored by Fry’s Food & Drug. New tenants include Firehouse Subs, Goodwill, and AutoZone.  

Responding to the Ebola virus that has ravaged West Africa, RetailROI has launched a major campaign to help fight the disease in Liberia. Working with its partner charities operating in Liberia, including More Than Me and Love In Action, the #RetailFightsEbola campaign is rallying retailers, manufacturers and individuals to provide much-needed medical and hygienic supplies to Liberia.

RetailROI’s goals are two-fold:

Boston -- The current use of social media data by retailers for merchandise planning is limited, with only 39% using it for product development and only 35% using it for promotional planning.  

Coca-Cola Life, a new reduced-calorie beverage with a blend of cane sugar and stevia leaf extract, is hitting the stores nationwide. 

Coca-Cola Life addresses the health concerns over sugary sodas.  The green-labeled can or bottle contains 35% fewer calories than Coca Cola Classic and is said to taste closer to the original than Diet Coke, which is sweetened with aspartame.  

Minneapolis -- The Opus Group announced the completion of four projects for St. Paul, Minnesota-based retailer Gander Mountain. Opus built three new 52,000-sq.-ft. Gander Mountain stores in Augusta, Georgia; Newnan, Ga. and Algonquin, Ill.; and managed renovations of the retailer’s 96,275-sq.-ft. store in Forest Lake, Minn.