Convenience Stores

Phoenix -- Leslie’s PoolMart will mark the grand opening of five retail locations on April 12. The stores are in Gold Canyon, Ariz., Madera, Calif., Torrance, Calif., West Springfield, Mass., and Magnolia, Texas.

In total, Leslie's plans to open 48 new stores this year between March and May. With these new stores and its recent acquisition of 24 Warehouse Pool Supply stores in the Houston area, Leslie's will bring its total store count to more than 800 stores nationwide.

SAN FRANCISCO — ECOtality and Kroger have announced an expanded partnership that includes the installation of more than 200 level 2 (quick charge) charging stations, and 25 DC Fast Chargers, to be installed across key markets through the EV Project. This multimillion dollar expansion will bring the total number of Blink chargers at the Kroger Family of Stores to almost 300.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart said it will open two additional college campus locations, nearly two years after make its university debut at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

According to a Monday report by the Wall Street Journal, which cited Inside Higher Ed, the retailer will open a 5,000-sq.-ft. store at Arizona State University in Phoenix next month, and will open in Atlanta on the Georgia Tech campus later this year.

Washington, D.C. -- A report on Friday by the Labor Department showed that retail employment declined by 24,000 in March, the biggest slide since February 2012. The largest hiring slump occurred among clothing and accessories stores, which dropped 15,000, followed by a 10,000 decrease among building-material and garden suppliers.
 
Retailers have been slow to hire largely because of the concern over the 2% increase in payroll taxes and how the bump is impacting consumer spending.

Fairway, a popular New York metro area supermarket, announced in a regulatory filing that it is going public. The company said it expects its stock to price in the range of $10 to $12 per share as it looked to raise as much as $164 million.

Fairway operates 12 locations in the greater New York City metro area and in on track to open a store this summer in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and one in Nanuet, N.Y, in the fall. 

Shrewsbury, Mass. -- Charter Realty and Development said that it has leased a 19,300-sq.-ft. space at White City Shopping Center, in Shrewsbury, Mass., to Planet Fitness.

Planet Fitness joins Shaw’s, Dress Barn and Austin Liquors, among others, at the 255,000-sq.-ft. center.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Same-store sales at Rite Aid decreased 2% in March, including a 3.8% increase in same-store sales on the front end and a 4.5% decrease in pharmacy sales.

The 4,621-store chain reported total sales for the month of $1.939 billion, a 2.5% decrease compared with $1.989 billion in March 2012, while same-store prescription count increased 0.3%.

The company said that of the 3.8% increase in front-end same-store sales, 3% came from a shift in timing of Easter, which fell on March 31, as opposed to April 8 last year.

San Francisco -- More than half of Americans shop and spend money to improve their moods, according to a new survey.

The study, by Ebates.com, found that 63.9% of women engage in “retail therapy,” compared with 39.8% of men, and the belief that it improves moods was found among 39.2% of women, compared with 20.6% of men. The survey was conducted online by TNS Global and included 1,000 adults.