Convenience Stores

Chelsea Bagel leases second Manhattan location
New York City -- Chelsea Bagel, operating on West 14th Street for the past five years, has leased its second Manhattan location.
Stirling Properties’ Beezie Landry closes on sale of three investment properties
Covington, La. -- Stirling Properties’ Beezie Landry, senior sales and leasing executive, closed on the sale of three investment properties, totaling over $15 million. In each of these transactions, Landry represented the Seller. The CVS property on Greenwell Springs Road in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is a 13,824-sq.-ft. building purchased by a private New York- based investor for $4.75 million.

Survey: Declining prices at the pump may increase holiday sales

Alexandria, Va. — Declining gas prices may increase holiday spending this year—especially among men and those ages 18-34, according to a new national survey on consumer optimism conducted by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
CROSSMARK exec named CEO at WIS

The retail inventory specialist firm WIS International named merchandising and marketing services veteran Jim Rose as its new president and CEO.

Rose most recently served as president of marketing services at CROSSMARK, a leading provider of marketing and merchandising services. Rose also previously served as chairman and CEO for Mosaic Sales Solutions and also held senior roles at The Nielsen Company and MPG, a global advertising and communications company.
ABC Stores automates Hawaiian warehouse with Voice Picking

Irvine, Calif. -- C-store operator ABC Stores selected DecisionPoint Systems to automate its Hawaiian warehouse operation using Wavelink's Speakeasy voice picking technology. The move reduced picking errors and increased efficiencies by 40%, prompting the retailer to look at further deployment.
Research: Food shoppers opt for brick-and-mortar over online

Chicago -- Although consumers are changing how they shop for food and beverages, most prefer to make perishable purchases in tradition brick-and-mortar locations.
Deeper Dive: Apple Pay vs. CurrentC

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.
More retailers offer Ultra’s prepaid service

Target, Dollar General and Barnes & Noble are helping customers make an international connection with a new offering from UltraMobile.
Retail circular advertising trends, September 2014

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in September 2013 versus September 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. In the aftermath of back-to-school season, Walmart and Staples appear to be trying to clear out all remaining school and office supplies. Staples accomplished this by improving its previous offer of $5 off with purchase of $30 to $10 off and also cut backpack prices by 50%. Walmart shifted the focus from school to office, with a “Run Your Business for Less” promotion.
ECRM: Retail circular advertising trends, October 2014

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in October 2013 vs. October 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. CVS and Walgreens increased the number of circular pages seen in October 2014; up respectively by 18% and 11%. Walgreens added 13% more halloween candy promotions, where as CVS added 9% in October comparable. Walgreens used an attractive “Save on Treats” candy promotional page in each October circular, nicely consolidating candy promotions into concise seasonal sections.
Guest Commentary: Overtime Pay--Claims by Store Managers and Assistant Managers on the Rise

By Nicholas Fortuna & Paula Lopez of Allyn & Fortuna LLP
Fastenal CEO to resign

New York -- The CEO of Fastenal, Willard Oberton, will resign from the 2,700 store chain, effective Dec. 31. Oberton, 56, will remain chairman of the company and continue to be actively involved in strategic planning and performance measurements.