Convenience Stores

Irvine Company bringing Whole Foods Market to Santa Clara Square
Santa Clara, Calif. --The Irvine Company announced that Santa Clara’s first Whole Foods Market is coming to Santa Clara Square, a unique office campus and specialty retail center being built at Great America Parkway and the 101 freeway in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Charter Realty acquires North End Gateway property
Boston -- Charter Realty & Development Corp. announced the acquisition of 60-70 Cross Street in Boston’s North End. The property is the latest addition to Charter’s growing commercial portfolio in Massachusetts and kick-starts its new urban program. Charter currently owns and operates over a million and a half square feet of commercial space in the Bay State.

Jamba Juice optimizes promotions with Fishbowl

Emeryville, Calif. –- Jamba Juice Co. has successfully optimized a campaign leveraging Fishbowl’s Promotions Manager solution, which enabled Jamba Juice to create optimized and reliable (one time use per code) promotions, distribute them both directly and through Groupon, then authenticate and track the performance in real time, capturing the underlying transaction data.
Fresh Thyme Farmers Market Takes Root in the Midwest

A new specialty grocer — Fresh Thyme Farmers Market — has big plans for the Midwest. With industry veteran Chris Sherrell at the helm (and an investment interest from Meijer Inc.), the start-up emphasizes natural and organic foods and produce, much of it locally sourced, at value prices in a convenient neighborhood-store format.
KFC Franchisee Achieves Winning POS touch

Kentucky Fried Chicken franchisee Weaver Enterprises Ltd. is using Toshiba SurePOS 500 POS hardware and software, including touchscreen terminals, to meet corporate software standards and improve the checkout experience. Working with business partner Tolt Solutions, Weaver selected Toshiba’s SurePOS 500 and SureMark printer as the core of the new POS solution.

Using the Toshiba SurePOS 500’s spill-resistant, infrared touchscreen terminal and running Compris POS software, Weaver has increased employee productivity and reduced customer wait time.
Yelp: Eight in 10 Americans will shop local during holidays

San Francisco -- Eight in ten Americans are likely to shop at local businesses during the upcoming holiday season, according to a 2014 nationwide Nielsen survey commissioned by Yelp. Nearly half (47%) plan to spend more than $100 at local businesses.
FedEx Office expands print offering

Dallas -- FedEx Office is collaborating with marketing execution firm InnerWorkings Inc. to expand the range of professional print products through FedEx Office retail locations. By combining FedEx Office printing & logistics capabilities with InnerWorkings’ streamlined production platform, the retailer will be able to offer printed items such as signs and banners, flyers, posters, brochures, displays and branded merchandise.
GMDC taps new president

Patrick Spear has joined GMDC as president to fill a role previously held by the organization’s long-time CEO Dave McConnell. Spear brings 25-plus years of experience in the consumer and office products industry to GMDC’s senior management team.
Construction completed on phase two of Fortuna Commons shopping center

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.
United Tae Kwon Do to open at Summit Plaza

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.
IDC Retail Insights: Top 10 retail predictions for 2015

Framingham, Mass. -- By 2017, three times as many retailers as now will explicitly underpin their customer and operations strategies on 3rd platform technologies. That’s one of IDC Retail Insights’ top 10 worldwide retail predictions for 2015. IDC revealed the predictions during a Web conference, IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Retail Agenda 2015 Predictions.
(Please Don't) Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Like an inconsiderate party guest, Old Man Winter arrived early this year, bringing his trusty cohorts snow, ice, wind and rain. The first official day of winter is still a month away, but many parts of the United States are feeling the freeze, especially in the Northern Plains, where snow fell 11 days before summer officially ended. If that is any indication of the upcoming season, retailers could be in for a long and brutal winter.

Winter Forecast

For many, winter is a magical time of the year.