Discount Store

Shareholders of Wal-Mart de Mexico elected three new female board members at the company’s annual meeting yesterday, bringing to six the number of women on the company’s eleven-member board.

The new members include Shelley Broader, chief merchandising officer of Walmart Canada, Olga Gonzalez, Walmart’s VP audit services for Latin America and Kristin Oliver, SVP people for the Walmart International division. Other women on the board include Cathy Smith, Blanca Trevino and Kristin Oliver.

Union, N.Y. -- North Plainfield, N.J.-based Levin Management Corp. said that Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has leased 29,423 sq. ft. at the River Plaza shopping center in Union, N.Y.

The Mid-Atlantic’s largest retailer of closeout, surplus and salvage merchandise, Ollie’s will open at the 177,871-sq.-ft., Home-Depot-anchored property in September of this year – filling a key anchor vacancy.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores, in a presentation at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference on Thursday, announced that it would open “hundreds” of smaller-format stores over the next three years.

According to Bill Simon, president and CEO of Wal-Mart U.S., the ramped-up development could be augmented by some acquisition activity, although he didn’t elaborate on specifics.

Whittier, Calif. -- Watt Commercial Properties said that it has signed Dollar Super Store to a five-year lease for 5,762 sq. ft. of space at Santa Fe Springs Marketplace, an 144,261-sq.-ft. retail center located in Whittier, Calif.

Santa Fe Springs Marketplace is 97% leased to several tenants including Food 4 Less, Rite Aid, O’Reilly and Frazee Paint.

There have been dozens of books written about Walmart, but none from the perspective of Ron Loveless. He is an Arkansas native from a small town who was hired by Walmart founder Sam Walton in 1964. His first job was that of stock boy, but he would go on to hold positions of increased responsibility in operations and merchandising and was the executive charged with opening the first Sam’s Clubs in the early 80’s. Loveless retired in 1986.

Darby, Pa. -- Metro Commercial Real Estate announced it has negotiated new new leases totaling 33,113 sq. ft. at the new Darby Town Center, located in Darby, Pa. 

The 142,000-sq.-ft., Save-A-Lot-anchored center, which had its grand opening on December 9, 2010, will also be home to a new 10,000-sq.-ft Dollar Tree. A new 3,961-sq.-ft. lease was also completed for Hair World and Popeye’s will also lease approximately 2,152 sq. ft. 

New York — Walmart will next week start building its first smaller-format Express stores, according to building permits obtained by Bloomberg News.

The chain will begin construction March 16 on a 14,400-sq.-ft. store in Gentry, Ark., which is about 20 miles from the company’s Bentonville headquarters, according to the permits.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. -- Kohl’s Department Stores on Wednesday is celebrating  the grand opening of nine new stores across seven states: Illinois, New York, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.  The chain plans to open a total of approximately 40 stores in 2011.

In addition,  Kohl’s continues to invest in its existing store base, remodeling approximately 100 stores in 2011, an 18% increase from 2010.