Convenience Stores

The age old question of what to get the person who has everything has finally been answered, and a Walmart gift card appears to be the ultimate solution for the perplexed gift-giver. That’s according to the gift card exchange website www.giftcardrescue.com and survey involving 6,000 people who created gift card wish lists on its site since the beginning of the year.

Philadelphia -- Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based WP Realty said it has acquired Mayfair Shopping Center, located in Philadelphia.

Mayfair is a single-story, 115,411-sq.-ft. community shopping center comprised of four buildings, including one bank pad (Wachovia). The center is anchored by national and regional retailers including Shop ‘n Bag, Dollar Tree and Fashion Bug.

Mayfair Shopping Center is currently 86% occupied with 16,339 sq. ft. of available retail space.

Philadelphia -- Center City Philadelphia-based Michael Salove Co., an X Team partner, announced the completion of two lease transactions with Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Popeye’s has signed a lease to open a 2,069-sq.-ft. freestanding unit in Wilmington, Del., and 2,152-sq.-ft. endcap at Darby Town Center in Darby, Pa.

Both are slated to open in March 2011. Once open, these units will be the 15th and 16th for the New Jersey-based franchisee.

Berwyn, Pa. -- Planalytics has issued its weather outlook for the all-important days after Christmas when many consumers head to the stores to redeem gift cards and exchange presents. Here’s how the firm sees the forecast shaping up for the Northeast and South:

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens said Wednesday that its profit jumped 18.8% in the fiscal first quarter on a mix of better pricing and generic drug sales.

The chain said its profit rose to $580 million, exceeding estimates. Revenue rose 6% to $17.34 billion. The company's 2011 fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30.

Overall same-store sale sales rose 0.8% during the quarter, with front-end same-store sales rising 0.4% and pharmacy same-store sales rising 0.9%.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu is having difficulty divesting its New-England based Shaw’s chain for more than $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, and the Minnesota grocery conglomerate may be ready to take down its "for-sale" sign.

According to the report, Shaw’s has been on the block for several months with no takers. Many bids from private-equity firms actually came in below the asking price.

New York - Supervalu is having difficulty divesting its New-England-based Shaw’s chain for more than $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, and the Minnesota grocery conglomerate may be ready to take down its "for-sale" sign.

According to the report, Shaw’s has been on the block for several months with no takers. Many bids from private-equity firms actually came in below the asking price.

The time to ponder that question is when everything is going right, which pretty much seems to be the case at Target these days. The company’s stable senior leadership team has articulated a clear strategy that is being well-executed and delivering expectation-exceeding results such as a 5.5% gain in November same-store sales and third quarter earnings per share that surged 28.5% to 74 cents.

Fayetteville, Ark. - A report Monday said that Wal-Mart Stores is preparing to test a small-format store it is calling “Walmart on Campus” at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

According to the report by Advertising Age, the pilot appears to be part of a series of tests of Walmart’s smaller-format stores.

Of all the competitive threats facing Walmart, none looms larger in the minds of the retailer’s suppliers than the ongoing expansion and financial success of leading operators in the dollar store segment. That’s according to Walmart suppliers who participated in a survey conducted by Connecting Northwest Arkansas and identified such chains as Dollar General and Family Dollar as the greatest competitive threat to Walmart during the next five years.