Convenience Stores

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shuffling a number of key executives and also tinkering with its organizational structure. Veteran Wal-Mart operator Mike Moore, who currently serves as executive VP of the 613-unit Neighborhood Market division, will transition to a new executive VP role with oversight of Wal-Mart’s much larger 3,421-unit supercenter operation in the U.S.

Assuming Moore’s previous position is Wal-Mart West executive VP Julie Murphy.

Operational changes keep coming at Walmart with another round of senior executive moves – and several retirements – announced late Friday that involve some familiar leaders in new roles focused on supercenters, small format and the rollout of grocery home shopping.

New York - RDG Capital Fund Management, a shareholder of TravelCenters of America, has engaged in what it calls “constructive dialogue” with TravelCenters CEO Tom O'Brien and other board members. RDG said the TravelCenters board has indicated a willingness to consider selling some company-owned real estate as a source of liquidity.

Another opening in 2014 made plenty of headlines. Azalea Regional Shopping Center, opened in August by PrimeStor Development in South Gate, California, houses the new branded concept by Forever 21: F21 red, which offers an increased depth of product at a significantly lower price point. The Azalea store, which opened in May, was the brand’s debut; three other F21 red stores have since opened in New York and Minnesota.

Azalea Regional Shopping Center has plenty to shout about on its own. The 32-acre, Los Angeles County-area project grew out of a vacant site and delivers 400,000 sq.

The Food 4 Less and Ralph’s divisions of Kroger Co. are asking shoppers in the Southern California area to support the Special Olympics.

The 2015 Special Olympics World Games are coming to Los Angeles this summer, and Ralphs customers and associates can show their support of Special Olympics through the supermarket chain's nonprofit arm, The Ralphs Fund, by donating their spare change in collection canisters located at the checkstands in their neighborhood Ralphs supermarket.

The Shoppes at Middletown brings specialty retail and dining to affluent eastern Monmouth County

A unique new shopping center is being designed to bring boutique and specialty retail and dining options to eastern Monmouth County in Central New Jersey. The Shoppes at Middletown, at 380,000 sq. ft., will emerge as a premier town center development when it opens in 2017. The project will be developed on 50 acres of the overall 120-acre project, and will feature 2,200 ft.

A look at brands and categories that are growing

I read CSA editor-in-chief Marianne Wilson’s recent “From the Editor’s Desk” column (page 8, March 2015 issue, Chain Store Age) with great interest. Her piece — “The store is back (even though it never left)” — touched on the topic of brick-and-mortar retail expansion and “the relevance of offline retail in an omnichannel world.”

The article got me thinking in more detail about the retail expansion we are seeing in 2015. What brands are growing?

The famous poetic line “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink” may hold more truth than most retailers realize.

“Less than 1% of water is drinkable and readily available, and less than 1% of that is surface water,” Jerry Yudelson, president, Green Building Initiative, told SPECS attendees.