Consumer Electronics

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.

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.  

It has been fascinating to watch the back and forth in recent weeks as competing systems for mobile payment have suddenly been grabbing headlines and jockeying for space in the public consciousness.  

Hackensack, N.J. -- Martial arts studio United Tae Kwon Do Center has leased 1,500 sq. ft. at Summit Plaza in Hackensack, becoming the latest tenant to join the retail lineup at the Bergen County shopping center. The 100,000-sq.-ft. retail property is owned and managed by Alfred Sanzari Enterprises.  

J. Patrick Doyle, president and CEO of Domino’s Pizza, has been appointed to the board of directors of Best Buy.  

Doyle has joined Domino’s in 1997, serving in a variety of leadership roles across its domestic and international businesses. He has been president and CEO of Domino’s since March 2010.

Ridge Hill, the Forest City Ratner-owned regional shopping and entertainment destination in Westchester, N.Y., will be the launchpad for DreamWorks Animation’s “North Pole Adventure,” a first-of-its-kind experience that blends storytelling and cutting-edge technology—taking families on an interactive journey that starts with Shrek and ends with a personal visit with Santa.

 

Amazon made it even easier to find holiday gifts for technology lovers this year.   The company launched its annual Electronics Holiday Gift Guide (www.amazon.com/giftguide), a curated list of more than 500 top tech gifts of the season which features 3 times more deals than last year, with 10 deals on electronics items offered every day.

CurrentC, the mobile payment service under development from a retailer consortium known as Merchant Customer Exchange, or MCX, has been getting a lot of attention in the past week. First MCX members CVS and Rite Aid disabled their NFC payment systems to block the rival ApplePay mobile payment service, and then hackers stole the emails of CurrentC users. And despite all this publicity, CurrentC is still in pilot mode.