Convenience Stores

Camp Hill, Pa. – Rite Aid reported a same-store sales increase of 2.1% for October 2013 as compared to the same month in the prior year. Front-end same-store sales actually decreased 0.6%, but gains of 3.4% in pharmacy same-store sales and a 1.1% jump in prescription count drove the total growth.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods will open three new stores and one remodeled store on Nov. 8. The new stores will be located at Newport Pavilion in Newport, Ky., Bartonsville Square in Stroudsburg, Pa., and South County Mall in South County, Mo.

Dick’s will also open its newly remodeled store in Saratoga Springs, NY on Sunday, Nov. 10.

The new stores will mark Dick’s 10th store in Kentucky, 37th store in Pennsylvania, and 13th store in Missouri. Dick’s will operate 555 stores in the U.S. as of Nov. 10.

Tucson, Ariz. — Mama’s Hawaiian Bar-B-Cue has signed a lease for a 2,000-sq.-ft. restaurant in Cortaro Plaza in Tucson, Ariz. The new location, the third for the young chain, is expected to open in mid-January 2014. The first two locations are near the University of Arizona and in Sahuarita, Ariz., a Tucson suburb.

Commercial Retail Advisors represented both the landlord, Cortaro Investments and the tenant, Mama’s Family Restaurants in the lease transaction.

Dallas — SRS Real Estate Partners welcomes T. Michael McNamara as first VP in the Tampa, Fla., office. A seasoned commercial real estate veteran with 23 years of experience, he will focus on tenant representation, landlord representation and land brokerage services across Tampa Bay and Central Florida.

McNamara comes to SRS from Sperry Van Ness where he was a senior advisor specializing in the sale and leasing of retail, office and industrial properties in the Sarasota, Orlando and Tampa Ba markets.

North Plainfield, N.J. — RadioShack has leased 2,556 sq. ft. at the 175,515-sq.-ft Hamilton Plaza in Hamilton Township, N.J., according to Levin Management, the property’s managing and leasing agent. Metro Commercial Real Estate Inc. served as the tenant’s broker in the transaction.

Ask six senior merchandising executives from Walmart and Sam’s Club what keeps them up at night and be prepared for an interesting collection of answers relating to key competitors and assorted challenges.

That’s what Scott Huff, SVP/GMM of consumable at Walmart did this week during a panel discussion with six Walmart and Sam’s Club VP/DMMs during the Emerging Trends in Retail Conference organized by the Center for Retailing Excellence in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas.

Ahold USA has appointed former executive for Asian retailer Dairy Farm International Gordon Reid as president of its Giant Food of Landover, Md., division.

Reid is replacing interim president and Ahold USA EVP operations Bhavdeep Singh. Singh served in the role of interim president following the departure of Anthony Hucker, who resigned from Giant-Landover in September to become EVP and chief strategy officer for St. Louis-based Schnuck Markets.

Gigwalk has made a major upgrade to its platform that involves new higher skilled, higher paid “Gigs” (jobs on the Gigwalk app) and free training programs based on worker certifications. The move makes Gigwalk the only mobile work marketplace that allows workers to advance their careers through special courses and certifications.

Miami — The Cheese Course, a European-style cheese shop and bistro, has leased 1,500 sq. ft. in the plaza of Miami’s Southeast Financial Center, Florida’s tallest and largest office tower and plaza, totaling 1.225 million sq. ft.

The newest tenant joins other South Florida dining favorites including Spris, and The Newsstand Café by Books & Books.

New York -- Nearly 90% of Americans repeatedly buy products retailers have on promotion, according to a new survey by Syngera, a global technology startup that uses big data to bring personalized digital experiences to the physical retail store.  In the survey, 85% of respondents said they would return to brick-and-mortar stores when alerted to upcoming sales of previously purchased items.