Convenience Stores

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot Inc. has named retail veteran Mark Cosby as president, North America. Cosby, 55, most recently served as president of pharmacy at CVS Caremark. He will be a member of Office Depot’s executive committee and leadership team and report to Roland Smith, chairman and CEO of Office Depot.

Cosby joins Office Depot following a 30-year career at a number of leading retail chains. Prior to CVS, Cosby spent five years at Macy’s Inc., where he served in a number of executive roles, including president, stores.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has reportedly invested $103 million in its Indian operations with the goals of expanding its wholesale store count and increasing its online presence there. According to the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart intends to increase wholesale store base in India from the current 20 to 70 in the next five years.

New York – The 2014 Harris Poll EquiTrend (EQ) study, which measures brand equity for more than 1,500 brands across 170 categories, finds traditional grocery store brands rank highest overall in three of the four regions surveyed. The EQ index examines three key factors of brand equity: familiarity, quality and purchase consideration.

Maywood, Calif. -- CBRE senior VP Philip D. Voorhees announced that he, Jimmy Slusher and the National Retail Investment Group – West (NRIG-West) team, along with CBRE’s managing director, Richard Rizika, completed the sale of Maywood Village Square, a 48,324-sq.-ft. convenience strip center located in Maywood, California. The center is anchored by O’Reilly Auto Parts and features Subway, U.S. Bank, Yoshinoya, Western Dental Services and a new Fitness 19 health club.

Hackensack, N.J. -- Dress Barn has renewed its lease for 4,200 sq. ft. at Summit Plaza in Hackensack, New Jersey. The 100,000-sq.-ft. retail property is owned and managed by Alfred Sanzari Enterprises.
 

New Hyde Park, N.Y. - Kimco Realty Corp. has acquired a portfolio of 10 shopping centers from its joint venture with SEB Asset Management for $275.8 million, including $193.6 million of mortgage debt. Kimco, which previously held a 15% ownership interest in the properties, paid approximately $69.8 million for the remaining 85% equity interest held by SEB Asset Management, the group’s specialist real estate manager.

Paying online got easier for Visa cardholders this week thanks to its launch of Visa Checkout. The service will allow users to register their card and then complete their purchases by entering their Checkout username and password.

Kmart has been offering Shop Your Way members check-cashing services since September last year, but this week the retailer is making the service available for $1 or less, rather than $3. For the lowered price, members will be able to cash payroll and government checks up to $2,000 and personal checks up to $500.

Washington, D.C. -- The House has passed legislation broadening a federal tax law that makes it cheaper for retailers to remodel their stores, the National Retail Federation said.

Lawmakers voted 258-160 today to make “bonus depreciation” permanent, and granted NRF’s request that it be expanded to include stores that are owned rather than just those that are leased. The measure now heads to the Senate.

Seven hundred and fifty tons of plastic wrap — the equivalent of 1.5 million pounds — have been saved by Walmart China as a result of a simple change to warehouse operations.

The plastic savings were realized after Walmart developed a new system that involved reusable canvas belts to secure merchandise on pallets, thereby eliminating the need for one-time use plastic wrap. The canvas belt system is now in use at nine of Walmart’s distribution centers in China.