Consumer Electronics

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - JLL’s Capital Markets experts announced the sale of Coursey Commons Shopping Center on behalf of Blue Ridge Real Estate Company. Wal-Mart Stores purchased the Baton Rouge, Louisiana shopping center for $10.9 million. The 67,775-sq.-ft. center is anchored by a Walmart Neighborhood Market and includes Sally Beauty Supply, AT&T Mobility, UPS store and Weight Watchers.  

New York City - The International Council of Shopping Centers has named 12 shopping centers as winners of its 2014 U.S. Design and Development Awards competition.  ICSC’s U.S. Design and Development Awards are designed to recognize outstanding projects for excellence in the creation of new retail projects, and in the expansion or redevelopment of existing projects, solely within the continental United States.   

Consumers are doing even more holiday shopping from their desktop computers this year, according to a new report from comScore.

The Internet analytics company reports that U.S. consumer spending from desktop computers for the first 44 days of the November-December 2014 holiday shopping season is up 15% from last year, to $42.5 billion.

Atlanta – Payment technology provider First Data and secure payment acceptance technology vendor Verifone, are partnering to help retailers reduce exposure to large-scale consumer payment data breaches and expedite acceptance of EMV-enabled credit and debit cards in advance of the October 2015 liability shift for EMV-enabled payment card fraud.    

Janesville, Wisconsin - CBL & Associates Properties announced that DICK'S Sporting Goods and ULTA Beauty are coming to Janesville Mall in Janesville, Wisconsin. The two new stores will be situated in the former JC Penney location. Construction is expected to begin in January with the grand opening for both stores scheduled for fall 2015.  

BOSTON - Payments made via near field communications (NFC)-enabled mobile handsets will account for $130 billion in worldwide consumer retail spend by 2020, according to a study by Strategy Analytics. This equates to 254 million mobile users making five payments per month at an average of just below $9 per transaction.   

Hudson’s Bay Co. has looked to a Toys “R” Us veteran as its pick for its next CEO effective Jan. 5, although current CEO Richard Baker will stay on as governor and executive chairman of the retailing company.

Gerald Storch, an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience, oversaw the expansion of Toys “R” Us online and international business. Prior to joining the toy giant, he was vice chairman of Target Corp., where he founded Target.com, and ran the chain’s grocery business. 

Mansfield, Connecticut - Charter Realty and Development has leased space at the East Brook Mall in Mansfield, Connecticut, to Dollar Tree. Dollar Tree has taken 9,733 sq. ft. and will be joining anchor tenants Kohl’s, Dress Barn, TJ Maxx, Michael’s, Olympia Sports, Radio Shack, and Applebee’s.   The 151,377-sq.-ft. center has signalized access from Route 195 (Storrs Road) and services 34,000 student, faculty and staff members of the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University.