Convenience Stores

Cincinnati -- Phillips Edison Grocery Center REIT II, Inc. announced it has acquired Plano Market Street in Plano, Texas, and The West Acres Shopping Center in Fresno, California, for a collective $57.1 million, totaling more than 253,038 sq. ft.

Plano Market Street is a 169,624 sq. ft. grocery store-anchored shopping center in Plano, Texas, just outside Dallas. The center is 94.2% leased, anchored by Market Street and retailers World of Beer, Tony & Guy, and the Little Gym.

Things really aren't as bad as they seemed a few weeks ago for Costco, which just reported a sizable increase in same store sales for July.

The CEO of Fred's says its stellar sales for July reflect the success of the company's expanded pharmacy business.

Roseville, Mich. – Developing customer rewards programs costs money, but when done correctly pays big dividends. The National Coney Island restaurant chain has successfully increased guest frequency and spend with its Paytronix-powered Coney Bucks rewards program.

An instant-wins promotion almost doubled new Coney Bucks registrations over the average previous months' registrations. National Coney Island replaced its coupon-based advertising program with the Coney Bucks rewards program, which is built on the Paytronix Rewards Platform.

New York -- Kip Tindell, founder, chairman and CEO of The Container Store, will be inducted into the Retail Hall of Fame at the upcoming World Retail Congress, which will be held Sept. 8-10, in Rome, Italy. Tindell is also the current chairman of the National Retail Federation.

A federal agency recently issued important guidance on a question some retail store executives may never have considered — how to handle restroom access for transgender employees.

In its Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers, published June 1, OSHA staked out a clear position: Employees should have access to restrooms based on their inward gender identity, not on the employer’s opinion as to which restroom they should use. Earlier this year, EEOC issued similar language.

Minneapolis -- Target wants to keep things simple.

The retailer, which has been moving to simplify its operations, is now taking a similar approach to its store identity. Starting in October, Target will begin the process of rebranding all of its CityTarget and TargetExpress stores as “Target.”

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer is on the move in Wisconsin.  

Continuing an estimated $750 million investment in Wisconsin, Meijer on Tuesday opened two more superstores in the state. The retailer announced plans to open two to three new Wisconsin locations per year through 2019.

Meijer, which now operates 222 stores, entered Wisconsin just six weeks ago, with two stores. The retailer traditionally focused its growth on five states: Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Concord, Calif. -- It’s changing of the guard time at the 157-store BevMo!.

BevMo! announced that Dimitri Haloulos has been appointed CEO, effective Sept. 1. Haloulos, who joined Albertsons Safeway in 2011 and most recently served as senior VP of Own Brands, has spent his career in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail space as an executive in sales, marketing and research across a number of global brands

Arlington, Va. – The nation’s leading retail associations have joined together supporting legislation to combat cyber threats.