Mass Merchant

The growth of e-commerce and the increasing emphasis on delivery speed as well as pick-up services for retail goods will likely precipitate a convergence of industrial distribution and retail real estate.   

Costco Wholesale Corp. came roaring back in its third quarter as it topped analysts' earnings and sales expectations amid strong U.S. sales.   

As the International Council of Shopping Centers shut the doors on its RECon show in Las Vegas this week, Chain Store Age asked top brokers and third-party managers for their take on the temperature of physical retail. Not quite sick, not quite well, but certainly out of rehab and hard at work on recovery, was the general diagnosis.  

Walmart is on fire in grocery and capturing a bigger share from traditional supermarkets.   That's according to Loop Capital analyst Andrew Wolf, who estimates Walmart currently has a 21.5% market share in the U.S. traditional grocery market, reported CNBC.   "Wal-Mart is taking back share from the traditional supermarket at an accelerating rate," Wolf said.  

Dollar Tree's profit declined in the first quarter amid an impairment charge related to its divesture to Dollar Express.   

The retail industry's two major organizations are applauding reports that the House will drop efforts to repeal debit card swipe reform.   

Ikea announced last week it would build a new location adjacent to a CBL property outside Raleigh, and this week CBL announced it would capitalize on that occasion to transform its Cary Towne Center into a mixed-use project.   CBL has been working with the town of Cary — an affluent and growing community in the Research Triangle — to start the zoning process to allow the construction of a multi-phase renovation of the property. Plans call for a mix of high-end retail, dining, entertainment, residential, office, and green space.

Twenty retail executives traveled to the nation's capitol on Wednesday to voice their opposition to the proposed border adjustment tax (BAT).