Mass Merchant

Minneapolis -- Shorenstein Properties LLC and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th announced that Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th has signed a lease for 40,321 sq. ft. in the retail portion of Minneapolis City Center, continuing the fashion retailer’s 25-year presence in downtown Minneapolis. The new store is slated to open April 2016.

“This city has been a strong market for us, and Minneapolis City Center provides us with a vibrant location in which to serve our exceedingly loyal customers,” said Jonathan Greller, president of Outlets, HBC.

For many supermarkets, having an effective grocery shopping app is a key component of their omnichannel toolkit. But how to design it?

Retailers could learn from Favado 2.0, a redesigned version of the grocery community savings app by savings.com. The sale and coupon data in Favado 2.0 is aggregated by grocery savings experts throughout the country and presented in a new visual format.

Los Angeles - Savings.com has launched Favado 2.0, a redesigned version of the grocery community savings app. The sale and coupon data in Favado 2.0 is aggregated by grocery saving experts throughout the country and presented in a new visual format.

Clarksville, Tenn. -- Francesca’s Collections will open a 1,353-sq.-ft. store at Cafaro’s Governor’s Square Mall, in Clarksville, Tennessee. The new store, located across from Gap/Gap Kids, is slated to open May 2015.

Governor’s Square Mall, owned and managed by Cafaro Company, comprises over one million sq. ft. of retail space. It is anchored by Dillard’s, Belk, Sears, J.C. Penney, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target, Cinema Ten and over 100 other specialty shops and services.
 

New York - With gas prices down 31% since June 2014 and oil prices tumbling to their lowest levels in several years, American consumer confidence has improved dramatically. According to the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Report, in fourth quarter 2014 U.S. consumer confidence went up 12 percentage points year-over-year.

Ron Boire was named president and CEO of Sears Canada after serving in that capacity on an interim basis since last October.

Boire was named acting president and CEO last October to replace Doug Campbell, the former head of the 381 unit Sears Canada operation who resigned for personal reasons. Boire was identified as the top candidate for the job at the time the appointment was made as he had spent nearly two years as executive vice president, chief merchandising officer and president of Sears and Kmart formats.

Former Pep Boys and Bass Pro Shops marketing executive Ron Stoupa has joined the Sports Authority as executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Stoupa will be responsible for leading the strategic development and oversight of the company’s marketing plans. The Englewood, Co.-based company operates 466 locations throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Alexandria, Va. - The U.S. convenience store count increased to 152,794 stores as of Dec. 31, 2014. That marks a nearly 1% increase from the prior year, according to the 2015 NACS/Nielsen Convenience Industry Store Count.