Consumer Electronics

New York City -- Satellite TV company Dish Network Corp. said Wednesday that it won the auction for Blockbuster with a bid valued at $228 million in cash. The transaction, expected to close the deal during the second quarter, needs bankruptcy court approval.

As of Tuesday, Dish, investor Carl Icahn and a group of debt holders were the three remaining bidders for the Dallas movie-rental chain, which filed for Chapter 11 in September.

Los Angeles -- Citadel Outlets, Los Angeles's only outlet shopping mall, announced that Tilly's, The Children's Place and U.S. Polo Assn opened in March.

The Children's Place (4,994 sq. ft.) opened on March 29 next to Nautica. Tilly's (5,162 sq. ft.) opened March 21, and the new U.S. Polo Assn. store (3,258 sq. ft.) opened March 9 next to Justice. 

In other center news, Rockport opened up its doors in February, Sprockets Kids relocated within the center, and Hurley, Van's and Bass remodeled and expanded their existing stores.

New York City -- Blockbuster's bankruptcy auction is set to stretch into a second day on Tuesday after preliminary talks between bidders and the chain's representatives dragged on late into Monday, a company spokesman said.

Blockbuster did not say how many bidders it attracted, but halls outside the auction room in Manhattan bankruptcy court were packed with attorneys and investment bankers refining their bids throughout Monday, Reuters reported.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Mall owner Simon Property Group announced Tuesday that it has completed its first installation of an electric vehicle charging station at one of its shopping centers.

The initial installation has been completed at Simon's Florida Mall in Orlando and will be complete at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., later in April.

With its outdoor underpinnings and Swiss accents, Wenger, in Boulder, Col., is the perfect showcase for the legendary 116-year-old company, which is best known as the maker of the “genuine” Swiss Army Knife. The 3,000-sq.-ft. store, which took top honors in the Association for Retail Environments’ 2011 design awards, is the firm’s first freestanding store in the United States.

NEW YORK -- Several bidders, including Dish Network Corp. and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, are ready to battle for Blockbuster at a bankruptcy auction in New York on Monday, the Associated Press reported. The chain, which filed Chapter 11 in February, has received several bids other than the opening bid of $290 million from a group of debtholders made in February.

Dish and Icahn have each submitted a bid, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

LOS ANGELES -- Creative Channel Services announced that it has significantly expanded its partnership with Sears Holdings Corporation by providing the CyberScholar employee-learning platform to five of the retailer's store brands that carry home appliance and consumer electronics products.  CCS has been delivering the CyberScholar solution to Sears' full-line stores and now will deliver product and sales knowledge to Kmart, Sears Home Appliance Showrooms, Sears Appliance & Hardware, and Sears Hometown stores.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples on Monday said it has been named a 2011 Energy Star Partner of the Year in Energy Management by the EPA. The chain has increased its renewable energy purchases and development to cover 53% of its total U.S. electricity consumption, more than double the company’s previous level.

Staples has also been named an Energy Star Leader by the EPA for reducing energy consumption by more than 11% across its facilities, based on EPA's standardized tools for tracking energy use.