Discount Store

Dallas -- Venture Commercial Real Estate said it has represented rue21 in lease negotiations for two new store locations that opened in November in Paris, Texas and Chickasha, Okla.

The Paris store is in a 7,162-sq.-ft. space in Paris Towne Center, and the Chickasha store is located in the Southland Shopping Center.
 

Omaha, Neb. -- There is a heartwarming story playing out  at Kmart stores  throughout the Midwest: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers'  layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts, especially toys and children’s clothing, that the families might otherwise have a hard time paying, the Associated Press reported.

Wal-Mart Stores' Mexican subsidiary, Walmex, is now part of the Mexican Stock Exchange's newly created Sustainable Index, the company reported. 

Washington, D.C. -- The Consumer Intentions and Actions survey released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and conducted by BIGresearch found that, as of the second week in December, the average person has completed 46.5% of their holiday shopping.

Last year at this time, the average shopper had completed 49.5% of their shopping.

New York City -- Chain Store Age invites design firms, architects, retailers and suppliers to submit entries for its 30th annual Retail Store of the Year Design Competition. Eligible projects are those completed between November 2010 and December 2, 2011. Deadline for submission is December 20, 2011. Extensions are available.

Twenty-one competition categories are featured, ranging from supermarkets and discount/mass merchants to specialty stores and pop-up stores.

New York City -- Retail sales rose 0.2% in November, following a 0.6% advance in October that was more than initially reported, according to figures released Tuesday by the Commerce Department in Washington. The November increase was the slightest gain in five months. Economists projected a 0.6% November increase, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey. Purchases excluding automobiles also rose 0.2%.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores spent $1.49 million on lobbying in the third quarter on a wide range of issues including food safety, nutritional labeling and corporate tax reform, according to a recent disclosure report.

The total is the same as the $1.49 million the discounter spent in second quarter 2011.
 

Dubuque, Iowa -- Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co. announced that Dubuque, Iowa, will get its first Ulta store, as the cosmetics retailer is about to break ground on a 10,000-sq.-ft. store at Kennedy Mall.

The new store is slated to open in the second half of 2012.
Kennedy Mall is a 700,000-sq.-ft. mall featuring Younkers, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Sears, J.C. Penney and Best Buy. It is owned and managed in association with Cafaro affiliated companies.