Discount Store

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

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.

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.

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.

DALLAS — Leading closeout retailer Tuesday Morning has appointed retail industry veteran Jeffrey Boyer as the company’s EVP, chief administrative officer and CFO.

Boyer will fill the existing chief administrative officer vacancy and will replace Stephanie Bowman as CFO. Bowman, who served as the company’s CFO since April 2008, has decided to pursue other professional interests but will remain with Tuesday Morning in a consultative capacity to facilitate a smooth transition.

WinCo Foods has agreed to develop an 85,000-sq.-ft. modern grocery store at Old Orchard Village East in Lewisville, Texas.

WinCo Foods, founded in Idaho in 1967, is an employee-owned discount grocery that operates 87 stores and plans to expand into Dallas-Fort Worth metro region with 15 new stores over the next several years.

The deal will take the Old Orchard Village East center from 60% leased to 100% leased and make it possible to carry out a $20 million transformational redevelopment.

Philadelphia -- Five Below saw net income surge to $4.1 million for the quarter ended August 3, up from $1.2 million in the year-ago period. Sales climbed 34.9% to $117.1 million from $86.8 million, and same-store sales increased 6.6%. The company had, by the quarter’s end, opened 32 of its previously announced 60 new stores on tap for 2013.