Convenience Stores

San Antonio, Texas - CST Brands Inc. has entered into definitive agreements to purchase 100% of the membership interests of Lehigh Gas GP LLC, the general partner of Lehigh Gas Partners LP, from Lehigh Gas Corporation.The aggregate consideration will be $17 million in cash and approximately two million CST shares.

New York -- Bindo, a retail technology company, is launching a mobile Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV)-compliant credit card reader for its cloud-based iPad point-of-sale (POS) system.

Bindo’s newly developed EMV reader has full end-to-end encryption with its iPad POS system and is both EMV Level 1 and Level 2 certified in the U.S.

The J.M. Smucker Company has gained entry to a new business segment with the acquisition of privately held Sahale Snacks.

Smucker said it reached an agreement with Seattle-based Sahale to acquire the supplier of nut and fruit snacks to warehouse clubs, convenience stores and grocery retailers. Sahale’s annual sales of $50 million won’t have a material impact on Smucker, whose annual sales last year were $5.6 billion, but the deal does extend Smucker’s reach into new product categories.

Fred’s has brought Craig Barnes and Kelly Ma on board to lead the company’s new sourcing team, as part of the regional discount chain’s efforts to strengthen its overall inventory and buying management capabilities. The company tapped the pair in conjunction with its July sales results.

New York -- Aldi was recognized as the nation's low-price grocery leader for the fourth year in a row, according to a recent consumer survey conducted by Market Force Information. Aldi announced in December 2013 that it intends to open 650 new stores across the country during the next five years.

When asked to rank the top grocers offering low prices, the 6,200 consumers who participated in the study ranked Aldi first, followed by Costco and Walmart third.

Pasadena, Calif. - Mobile payments company Wipit Inc has developed a new omni-channel payment technology designed to allow in-app barcode payments at retail point-of-sale. This technology compliments Wipit's existing network branded GPR card, in-app services, and e-commerce payment options from a prepaid cash mobile wallet.

Livingston, New Jersey — The Fresh Market will open a 23,000-sq.-ft. store at The Village at Livingston (New Jersey), occupying a portion of the center’s former Pathmark store. The store is slated to open fall 2014.

The 93,000-sq.-ft. shopping center, which is managed and developed by Eastman Companies of Livingston, features tenants Olive Garden, GameStop, Wine Legend, Karate USA, Hudson City Savings and Zen Japanese Cuisine.

Richmond, Virginia — Divaris Real Estate announced the signing of three leases totaling approximately 14,000 sq. ft. of commercial space in Richmond, Virginia.

Dollar General renewed its lease for 8,000 sq. ft. in the Divaris-leased and –managed 360 West Shopping Center, located at 7218 Hull Street Rd.

The Dolan Company signed a lease for 3,120 sq. ft. of office space, and Liquid Glass Kustomz, automotive customizing, signed a lease for 2,856 sq. ft. of flex space in the Divaris-leased and –managed Belt Trade Center.

Woonsocket, R.I. – CVS Caremark Inc. beat Wall Street estimates with net income of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, up 11% from $1.1 billion in year-ago period. CVS cited increased generic drug dispensing rates and favorable Medicaid reimbursement from the state of California as aiding net income results.

Deerfield, Ill. – Same-store sales at Walgreen Co. rose 5.2% in July. Walgreens had July sales of $6.39 billion, an increase of 6.1% from $6.02 billion for the same month in fiscal 2013.

Total front-end sales increased 1.4% in July compared with the same month in fiscal 2013, while same-store front-end sales increased 1.1%. Same-store customer traffic decreased 2.6% while basket size increased 3.7%.