Mass Merchant

Seattle -- Nordstrom said it will open a Nordstrom Rack at The Fountains at Farah, a new power and lifestyle shopping center in El Paso, Texas. The store will be approximately 35,000-sq. ft. and is scheduled to open in the fall 2013.

The Fountains at Farah, with over 600,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space, is being developed and managed by Centergy Retail LLC, Dallas.

By Jeff Weidauer, [email protected]

Showrooming is the latest in what appears to be a never-ending series of paradigm shifts for retailers. This is the relatively new activity where shoppers visit a brick-and-mortar store, look at a product, and buy it online. Best Buy is possibly the hardest-hit; it’s been slapped with the unfortunate moniker “Amazon Showroom,” which describes just how widespread this phenomenon has become.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — GameStop has launched its GameStock 2012 campaign, which will offer customers six weeks of deals, instant win prizes and VIP grand prizes.

With any purchase or trade throughout the duration of GameStock, customers will receive a game piece containing a unique code. By entering that code at www.GameStop.com/GameStock, customers get the chance to win weekly grand prizes including:

•     Custom Painted Sleeping Dogs Motorcycle

Santa Fe, N.M. -- Fort Worth, Texas-based Trademark Property Co. said that Sports Authority will open a new store at Santa Fe Place mall in Santa Fe, N.M.

The 40,000-sq.-ft. store will open in a vacated Mervyn’s anchor space at the center. Construction is slated to launch in October with opening planned for spring 2013. It will be the second Sports Authority in New Mexico; the other store is located in Albuquerque.

Secaucus, N.J. -- The Children’s Place announced that it has signed a 10-year franchise agreement with Apparel Group to open stores in the Arab Gulf States of United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. The first stores are scheduled to open in the UAE in September in Dubai and Sharjah.

A trailblazing town center is getting more space and a cosmetic update.

Easton Town Center (Columbus, Ohio) co-developers Steiner + Associates and The Georgetown Co. have announced that they will be adding more than 50,000 sq. ft. of new tenants this year and renovating more than 150,000 sq. ft. of existing space.

“Great projects evolve on purpose,” said Yaromir Steiner, CEO, Steiner. “Our vision for Easton has been, and continues to be, to challenge ourselves to make it better every day.”

Online measurement firm comScore is out with its top 50 web properties report and Walmart.com must be doing something right judging from a surge in traffic.

Walmart.com was ranked 24th on the top 50 list for May with 42.4 million unique visitors, a 9% increase from the prior month when comScore showed Walmart.com had 38.8 million unique visitors in April. The gain in web traffic over the same month the prior year is even more substantial as Walmart.com registered a 26.2% increase from a May 2011 unique visitor total of 33.6 million.

Austin, Texas -- Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services announced that Michael Buckner has rejoined the firm as a senior associate in the Austin office.

Buckner originally joined Marcus & Millichap in October 2003 as an agent specializing in retail property sales. In December 2004, he was promoted to associate and in 2006 he received a Sales Recognition Award from the firm.