Retail

Atlanta – The Home Depot Inc. is the latest retail chain to investigate a possible credit card data breach.  

“I can confirm we are looking into some unusual activity and we are working with our banking partners and law enforcement to investigate,” said Home Depot spokesperson Paula Drake in a prepared statement.

Chicago -- Peet’s Coffee & Tea is growing its footprint in the greater Chicago area, opening 16 stores in a phased rollout across the market this fall. Chicago is part of Peet’s aggressive U.S. expansion effort that began last year, which will bring its store total to nearly 300 locations nationwide by the end of the year.

The Family Dollar board is under new pressure to walk away from a deal with Dollar Tree after Dollar General further increased an already more generous counter offer.

Early Monday Dollar General increased its all cash offer to $80 a share from $78.50 a share and increased the number of stores it said it would be willing to divest to 1,500 from 700. The company also said it would be willing to pay Family Dollar a $500 million reverse break-up if the deal failed to secure antitrust clearance.

Dallas -- SRS Real Estate Partners announced the relocation of the Chicago office to 155 N. Wacker Drive, where the Chicago team will continue to provide retail real estate services to clients in metro Chicago and across the Midwest.

The new SRS Chicago office is located in downtown Chicago in a LEED-Gold certified building just a few footsteps from the Chicago River.

Oak Brook, Ill. - Eastwood Towne Center has signed J.Jill, who selected Eastwood Towne Center as their only location in Central Michigan. This follows on the heels of recent opening announcements by Apple, Sephora, Gymboree and a newly expanded Forever 21, also exclusive to Eastwood in Central Michigan.

The 3,600-sq.-ft. J. Jill store will be located next to Express and American Eagle. J.Jill is expected to open in the late fall.

The Home Depot is the latest major retailer to investigate what looks like a data breach.

The Atlanta-based retailer is looking into the matter and also working with law enforcement and bank investigators.

"Protecting our customers' information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers,” the retailer said in a statement.

New York – A Credit Suisse analyst is reportedly recommending that Staples and Office Depot, itself recently merged with Office Max, merge. According to Investors Business Daily, Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter made the suggestion in a note sent to clients on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

It’s no secret that the position of retail CIO is frequently in a state of flux. For a variety of reasons, retail CIOs will shift their career with a different company, meaning at some point most retail IT professionals will probably find themselves transitioning to a new top boss.