Convenience Stores

New Orleans - Magnolia Marketplace, a 106,000-sq.-ft. shopping center located in New Orleans’ Central City neighborhood, opened Friday, March 13. The project, overseen by JCH Development and Stirling Properties, was 100% pre-leased prior to the January 2014 groundbreaking.

Walmart Executive Vice President of Global Customer Insights and Analytics Cindy Davis has been confirmed as a featured speaker for IRI’s upcoming Summit.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has integrated the Visa ReadyLink instant fund service into its Rapid Reload network of prepaid card programs. Now Visa reloadable prepaid cardholders can add funds to their general purpose reloadable (GPR) cards at participating Wal-Mart stores.

Sprouts Farmers Market is hoping Nascar fans will be racing to its stores after the Phoenix-based retailer signed on for a major sponsorship.

The 200-unit retailer of fresh, natural and organic foods will be the primary sponsor of Cole Whitt’s number 35 Ford Fusion when the green flag drops at this weekend’s CampingWorld.com 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway. According to Sprouts, the 23-year-old Whitt is an Arizona native committed to living a healthy lifestyle. Sprouts also operates more than 20 stores in and around Phoenix.

New York -- Walgreens Boots Alliance may soon be on the hunt for its next acquisition target in the United States, Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and acting CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance, told attendees of the Retail Week Live conference here on Thursday, according to a Reuters report.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. — Dollar General announced Thursday that David Tehle, executive VP and CFO, will retire from Dollar General effective July 1, 2015. The retailer has started a search for a successor and will consider both internal and external candidates for the job.

Phoenix – PetSmart on Wednesday named industry veteran Michael J. Massey as its president and CEO, effective immediately. Massey, who most recently served as CEO and president of Collective Brands Inc., replaces David Lenhardt, who stepped down upon the closing of private equity firm BC Partners’s acquisition of the pet supplies retailer.  Also, BC Partners managing partner Raymond Svider has been appointed non-executive chairman.

Alexandria, Va. -- The ranks of the nation’s convenience stores continue to grow, increasing to 152,794 stores at year end, up nearly 1% from the year prior, according to the 2015 NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count. And 2015 is expected to be another busy year: Pennsylvania-based Sheetz plans to open 30 locations in 2015. The chain, which recently opened its 500th location, has said it now sees the potential to double in size.