eCommerce

Seattle -- Starbucks said Monday that it is dividing responsibilities for its business into three global regions (instead of the current two, U.S. and international) in order to accelerate global growth.

The company has appointed three of its executives to lead the three regions: Asia; the Americas: and the combination of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Cliff Burrows will expand his current role as president, Starbucks U.S. to president, Americas, with responsibility for the United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

New York City -- British retail giant Tesco Ltd. has broken new ground, creating virtual stores in subway stations in Seoul, South Korea, as a way to make grocery shopping more convenient for the city’s busy urban residents. Tesco launched the unique venture for its Homeplus chain, which operates 115 stores in South Korea. The virtual stores were created by Cheil Worldwide of Korea.

Denver -- Qdoba Mexican Grill announced Friday that it has opened a new location at Janss Marketplace, located in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

This is the first Qdoba location in Thousand Oaks, and the 12th location in Southern California for the chain.
 

Torrington, Conn. -- Centro Properties Group said that two retailers, Metro PCS and Dollar General, have joined Torrington Plaza, located in Torrington, Conn.

Metro PCS recently opened and currently occupies 1,200 sq. ft. Dollar General has executed a lease and will be occupying 11,000 sq. ft. in the shopping center.

Torrington Plaza is owned and operated by New York City-based Centro.
 

New York City -- Williams-Sonoma’s West Elm brand will open its first ever pop-up shop, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on July 14.

The 3,300-sq.-ft. store will offer a unique mix of products picked especially for Georgetown and with the small living spaces of nearby colleges and universities in mind.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens recently surpassed 1 million fans on Facebook, the pharmacy operator announced Friday, and also has integrated its network of more than 7,700 drug stores through mobile platforms on Facebook Places and Foursquare.

Consequently, Walgreens has quickly become the chain drug store retailer with the largest following on Foursquare, while developing a growing presence on other social communities, including Twitter and YouTube.

New York City -- Target Corp. has won approval to put its signature red logo on one of Chicago's most famous buildings. The Permit Review Committee of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on Thursday approved the chain’s request to allow its bull's eye to be placed on its new store planned for downtown Chicago.

Purchase, N.Y. -- A report released Thursday by MasterCard Advisors, which tracked sales activity in the MasterCard payments network coupled with cash and check estimates, said that June sales continued May’s mixed bag with some sectors gaining and some losing momentum.

NEW YORK – Department-store retailers turned out solid sales results in June, despite concerns about consumers cutting back on spending.

Macy’s Inc. reported that its total sales for the fiscal month of June increased 7.5% to $2.392 billion from $2.226 billion last year. The retailer reported a same-store sales increase of 6.7% for the month. 

Former Safeway real estate executive Dan Clayton has joined Denver-based Laramie Company as VP leasing. He previously served as real estate director at Safeway and in his new role will focus on tenant representation and project leasing.