Convenience Stores

A much anticipated acceleration of small format Walmart stores failed to materialize on Wednesday when the retailer announced plans to curtail domestic new store growth in 2016.

Miami -- A visionary downtown Miami project has launched construction, promising to deliver a mix of uses and a true urban community.  

Oak Brook, Ill. -- McDonald’s USA will answer questions from customers through a multichannel effort called “Our Food. Your Questions.” The company invites people to submit their food questions via social media.    McDonald’s will respond with behind-the-scenes webisodes and other social content that provides facts on ingredients, how food is made and how it’s prepared in restaurants.    

Las Vegas -- VeriFone Systems announced RubyCi, an integrated site controller and point-of-sale (POS) solution designed to enable average-sized convenience stores and petroleum retailers to more efficiently manage their POS, payment and fueling systems and prepare their payments infrastructure for EMV. The new solution combines features of VeriFone’s Ruby2 POS system and Commander Site Controller.   

Boston -- Dollar General maintains its overall opening price point leadership position in Kantar Retail’s fourth annual opening price point (OPP) study. For the third consecutive year, Dollar General‘s overall basket was the least expensive, edging out Walmart supercenter’s basket by 2.5%, representing a widening of the gap between the two in the 2013 study.   

Edina, Minn. – Payment systems at 395 Dairy Queen stores and one Orange Julius store across the U.S. have been hit by a cyber attack that exposed payment card customer names, numbers and expiration dates. The company has no evidence that other customer personal information, such as Social Security numbers, PINs or email addresses, was compromised as a result of this malware infection.   

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.

New York -- Apparel retailers reported modest sales growth for the month of September, fueled by back-to-school spending early in the month.

Dallas -- EnTouch Controls awarded Corner Bakery Cafe the company’s annual Environmental Sustainability Award for its commitment to energy efficiency. The award is given to businesses that have made a significant positive impact on the environment.