Convenience Stores

Los Angeles -- Commercial real estate investment banking firm George Smith Partners, has completed a $17.2 million, two-phase, construction loan transaction in Oxnard, Calif., for Upside Investments.

New York City -- Two of Russia's largest grocery store chains, Pyaterochka and Kopeika, said on Monday that they would merge their operations in a move that would better position them to compete with Wal-Mart Stores, which is expected to enter the Russian market, according to the New York Times.

Landover, Md. -- Two-and-a-half years after joining the company, Robin Michel is leaving as president of the Giant-Landover division of Ahold USA to pursue other opportunities, the company confirmed Monday.

Michel will depart at the end of the month, according to Ahold USA spokesperson Sara Neumann. She will be replaced on a temporary basis as operations chief by Don Sussman, executive VP supply chain at Ahold, while the company conducts a search for a successor.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores has filed suit against CVS Caremark Corp. to prevent CVS from hiring former Wal-Mart executive Hank Mullany, according to a Friday report by Bloomberg.

CVS’s hiring of Mullany, former president of Wal-Mart’s northern U.S. division, would violate a noncompete agreement, Wal-Mart said in the complaint filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court.

According to Wal-Mart’s complaint, CVS has indicated that it intends to hire Mullany without regard to the agreement.

By David King, fulcrm.com

For many retailers, the “best customer” search has been an ineffective venture where the results haven’t warranted the time or expense, despite a host of different efforts. But this tantalizing target keeps pulling dollars out of budgets, dollars that could be spent on creating a more realistic and profitable approach to customers -- one that considers customers’ shifting behaviors and value.

New York City -- Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has been retained as the exclusive retail leasing agent for the Manhattan franchisee of Elevation Burger, which controls the chain’s locations south of 50th Street and is currently the only Manhattan franchisee. 

Earlier this year, RKF represented the burger chain’s franchisee in the leasing of its Manhattan flagship location at 103 West 14th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. It is scheduled to open in December.