Convenience Stores

San Antonio, Texas – Net income soared on rising margins in fuel and consumer packaged goods at convenience/fuel retailer CST Brands Inc. in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income rose 176% to $94 million from $34 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenues dropped 13% to $2.7 billion from $3.06 billion. For the full fiscal year, net income rose 44% to $200 million from $139 million. Revenues fell 4% to $12.18 billion from $12.78 billion.

GameStop is trying to boost the number of its stores by bidding on 163 leases from RadioShack Corp, according to Bloomberg.

The news service reports that Spring Communications, the wireless unit of GameStop, submitted and won a significant bid for the leases.

New York -- These are tough times for discount grocery stores — unless the company happens to be the fast-growing Aldi. Pittsburgh-based supermarket operator Giant Eagle plans to close all eight of its Good Cents Grocery + More stores. The closures are set for March 26.

The recently merged Albertsons and Safeway organization has appointed Justin Dye as chief administrative officer of the combined company.   Lee Wilson, who previously held this position with the company, has elected to stay in his role as consultant and not go forward as an officer with the newly combined organization.  

Pleasant Prairie, Wis. -- Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team recently brokered the sale of The Plaza at Prairie Ridge located in Pleasant Prairie (Kenosha County), Wisconsin. The 9,035-sq.-ft. three-tenant center was purchased by Mark Cosenza, VP of Oak Brook, Illinois-based Inland Real Estate Acquisitions, Inc. The seller was Milwaukee-based Evo Properties, LLC.
 

Austin, Texas -- Retail Properties of America, Inc., closed on the acquisition of Cedar Park Town Center, a 181,000-sq.-ft. community center located in Cedar Park, an Austin, Texas submarket. The purchase price was $39.1 million.

The property is situated at the intersection of two major freeways, with visibility and access to more than 73,000 vehicles per day. Cedar Park is shadow-anchored by Costco and is 94.5% occupied and leased to a lineup of national and regional tenants, including At Home, Chipotle, BJ’s Brewhouse and In-N-Out Burger.

Dublin, Ohio - The Wendy's Co. has increased the size of its board of directors from 10 to 11 members and elected Michelle "Mich" Mathews-Spradlin to serve as a director of the company, effective immediately.

Prior to her retirement in 2011, Mathews-Spradlin worked at Microsoft Corp. for 18 years, where she served, among other roles, as chief marketing officer and senior VP. In this position, she oversaw the company's global marketing function.
 

Redmond Inc., a vertical retailer of agricultural products, is meeting the challenges of providing a seamless customer experience head-on by using a cloud-based WAN from cloud-based networking provider VeloCloud. Connecting stores, distribution centers and warehouses with effective omnichannel capabilities using VeloCloud's cloud-delivered capabilities, Redmond has grown by 800% in the last 10 years as it has evolved into a sophisticated and seamless retail operation.