Discount Store

Mountain View, Calif. -- Best Buy was the most effective retail brand overall during the 2013 back-to-school advertising season for the second year in a row with an average Ace Score of 561, performing 15% higher than its retail peers, according to TV and video advertising data from Ace Metrix.

Office Depot was the second most effective back-to-school retail advertiser with an average Ace Score of 540.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart has launched a low-cost check-cashing service for Shop Your Way members at stores nationwide. 

Old Bridge, N.J. — Dollar Tree has retained R.J. Brunelli & Co. as exclusive leasing agent for all of New Jersey, adding areas south of Route 195 to the northern and central parts of the state that the firm has been handling all along.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in August 2012 versus August 2013 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. A home improvement promotional arms race between Home Depot and Lowe’s appears to be taking place: Lowe’s saw year-over-year increases of 100%, 75% and 184.4% across circular page count, ad block per page count and ad block per circular count, respectively. Despite these large gains, Lowe’s still appears to be playing catch-up to Home Depot, which continued to run more ad blocks per page and per circular than Lowe’s.

Los Angeles — PCG Woodland Hills Topanga LLC, an affiliate of Paragon Commercial Group, has acquired the Woodland Hills Shopping Center located in the Warner Center master planned community in the San Fernando Valley. Paragon Commercial Group acquires, develops and manages high quality, value add retail investments. The seller was Woodland Hills Retail.

The 112,649-sq.-ft. center was 100% leased at the time of the sale. Anchor tenants include Toys “R” Us, Office Depot and Off Broadway Shoes.

Los Angeles -- Grocery chain Fresh & Easy confirmed reports that its British parent Tesco LLC has sold the brand to private equity firm The Yucaipa Cos., following months of uncertainty about the 200+-unit chain’s future.

Fresh & Easy posted on its website Tuesday that more than 4,000 jobs would be saved under the purchase agreement but that some stores will be closing.  Specific stores have not been identified, and the terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed.

An article that recently caught my eye adds more evidence to my growing suspicion (and I know I am far from alone in this) that the near-term to mid-term retail outlook might not be quite as positive as we may have thought just a few months ago. The piece, “Gap Stands out Among Retailers in Tough Quarter,” in Women’s Wear Daily highlighted the sobering second-quarter numbers from a long list of big retail brands. As the title implies, Gap, Inc.

San Diego — Brixmor Property Group has leased approximately 45,000 sq. ft. to Smart & Final Extra! at Brixmor’s San Dimas Plaza in San Dimas, Calif. The supermarket/warehouse store will take over the space formerly occupied by Ralphs. NAI Capital represented Smart & Final.

T.J. Maxx anchors the 119,157-sq.-ft. San Dimas Plaza alongside national retailers Rite Aid, Payless ShoeSource, Sprint and RadioShack.