Retail

Los Angeles -- Grocery chain Fresh & Easy confirmed reports that its British parent Tesco LLC has sold the brand to private equity firm The Yucaipa Cos., following months of uncertainty about the 200+-unit chain’s future.

Fresh & Easy posted on its website Tuesday that more than 4,000 jobs would be saved under the purchase agreement but that some stores will be closing. Specific stores have not been identified, and the terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

Westfield San Francisco Centre has embraced the National Day Golden Week holiday that runs from Oct. 1- Oct. 7 every year — in China.

During Golden Week, more than 120 million residents of the People’s Republic of China travel to visit family and friends in the People’s Republic and overseas. Large numbers visit San Francisco, home of the largest Chinatown outside of Asia.

New York— Robert Graham has announced a new lease agreement to open its first New York City store on Bleecker Street this fall. The West Village Bleecker Street fashion corridor houses Burberry, Brunello Cucinelli, Marc Jacobs, rag & bone, and Ralph Lauren.

Robert Graham currently operates six freestanding stores across the country. They are located in Los Angeles, Houston, Las Vegas, Boca Raton, Fla., Long Island, N.Y., and Short Hills, N.J.

Walmart has announced plans to launch a smartphone trade-in program on the same day Apple announced the iPhone 5s, featuring an all-new A7 chip and a 64-bit desktop-class architecture for fast performance, as well as the iPhone 5c, which builds on the iPhone 5 and comes in five different colors. 

Philadelphia — Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust is relocating the award-winning Rizzieri Salon and Spa to Moorestown Mall from its current location in Marlton, N.J. The spa will take over a newly designed 12,000-sq.-ft. space late next year.

The move is part of PREIT’s repositioning effort for the mall. In addition to Rizzieri, the effort has brought in artisan-owned restaurants, a premium movie theater and specialty stores unique to the mall environment.

Boise, Idaho – Albertson’s Supermarkets has agreed to purchase grocery store and c-store operator The United Family. Terms of the transaction have not been released.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in August 2012 versus August 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. A home improvement promotional arms race between Home Depot and Lowe’s appears to be taking place: Lowe’s saw year-over-year increases of 100%, 75% and 184.4% across circular page count, ad block per page count and ad block per circular count, respectively. Despite these large gains, Lowe’s still appears to be playing catch-up to Home Depot, which continued to run more ad blocks per page and per circular than Lowe’s.

Old Bridge, N.J. — Dollar Tree has retained R.J. Brunelli & Co. as exclusive leasing agent for all of New Jersey, adding areas south of Route 195 to the northern and central parts of the state that the firm has been handling all along.