Convenience Stores

Stuart, Fla. -- Konover South announced the acquisition of 4.43-acres of land for its new 30,587-sq.-ft. Stuart Landings retail center in Stuart, Florida, for $2.25 million.

The center will be located at SE Federal Highway and SE Miami Ave., which shares U.S. 1 access with an adjacent Walmart Supercenter. Stuart Landings will feature a 17,837-sq.-ft. Aldi, a 3,500-sq.-ft. Aspen Dental with additional lease negotiations underway.

Only one retailer has averaged online deliveries in one day so far this holiday season.

According to a Kurt Salmon study of online orders from 62 retailers across a broad range of categories, including brick-and-mortar and online-only retailers, Zappos kicked delivery into a higher gear than any other analyzed retailer with an average of delivery in one day.

Mobile payment is impressively rising in consumer adoption and interest, but Apple Pay is not their first or even second choice.

According to a 2015 survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adult consumers by location-based mobile platform provider Retale, 43% of respondents have previously used a mobile device, such as smartphone, tablet, or smartwatch, to make a purchase in a brick-and-mortar retail store. This is a 7% increase year-over-year compared to the 36% who reported they had used mobile payment in Retale’s 2014 study.

Although numerous players have entered the mobile payment arena in recent months, Walmart Pay is poised to be much more disruptive to the mobile payment landscape

New York -- Time Equities acquired four Wisconsin multi-tenant retail assets for $18.1 million, spanning 307,668 sq. ft. in total. The acquisitions, consisting of two separate transactions, include The Geneva Commons purchased for $1.3 million, in addition to Oak Creek Centre, Park Plaza and Taylor Heights acquired for $16.8 million.

Nashville, Tenn. -- GBT Realty Corporation announced it acquired a 13.1-acre site along Memorial Blvd in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for $2.4 million. The company plans to develop the site into The Shoppes of Northgate, a 98,000-sq.-ft. center anchored by a 30,000-sq.-ft. Sprouts Farmers Market, along with retail tenants PetSense, Liquor Barn and Newk’s Eatery. The construction of the $16 million retail center is expected to begin this month with store openings set for spring 2016.

Lyndhurst, N.J. -- Ripco Real Estate Corp. announced David Townes has joined its New Jersey office sales team. Prior to joining Ripco Townes worked at Welco Realty for five years where he represented a combination of landlords and retail tenants. One of his many strengths and areas of expertise includes assisting retailers looking to expand in the New Jersey and Rockland County, New York areas.

Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones for one specific retail-related purpose.

According to the Deloitte 2015 Global Mobile Consumer Survey, the use of mobile devices to make in-store payments has nearly quadrupled in the past year. In-store mobile payments have increased from 5% of total in-store payments 2014 to 18% in 2015.

Retailers that think they have digital security under control may want to take a second look at their protocols.

According to a new study from risk predictive analytics firm Bay Dynamics, "The Pre-Holiday Retail Risk Report," a significant amount of retailers assign the same login credentials to employees and do not know if employees have leaked sensitive data.

Despite these common gaps, a majority of 125 retail IT decision-makers surveyed said they have full confidence that their sensitive information is sufficiently protected.

In October, Walgreens announced plans to acquire Rite Aid in a deal that had been widely anticipated. The deal is most certainly going to reshape the retail market by creating a drug store giant with nearly 13,000 stores in the United States; as well, it foretells of the significant changes occurring in the healthcare market.