Mass Merchant

Apple's newest store in New York City is located in one of its most diverse burroughs and store employees will be fluent in a dozen languages.

According to the New York Daily News, Apple is opening the store on July 11 in the Queens Center mall located in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens.

"We are really excited to bring our eighth store in NYC to Queens," Jason Barlia, market director at Apple Retail, told the Daily News. "When we saw this location it made a lot of sense."

If you’ve been reading this column over the last four years, let me first say, “thank you!” It’s gratifying to think that my musings about retail and retail real estate have kept your attention and interest. In this, my 100th and final (except for an occasional contribution) Retail Rap, I wanted to tackle the big question: What’s next? Where is the retail industry — particularly brick-and-mortar — headed in the months and years ahead?

Photo: Central Valley Marketplace, Ceres, California

Although summer vacations have just begun for many schoolchildren, parents already have back-to-school shopping on their minds.

Dallas -- X Team International announced that partner Venture Commercial Real Estate completed three retail anchor leases for landlords and tenants, totaling 110,000 sq. ft. across Texas.

Walmart signed a ground lease to build a 42,000-sq.-ft. Walmart Neighborhood Market store at the site of a former Brookshire Brothers at 1030 N. University Drive in Nacogdoches.

Hobby Lobby signed a lease to open a 50,200-sq.-ft. store at 2200 S. Loop 256 in Palestine.

Framingham, Mass. – There are a lot of things parents look for when doing back-to-school shopping, but as Randy Newman once sang, it’s money that matters.

A new online survey of parents of children ages 8-18, commissioned by Staples and conducted by Harris Poll, finds that price is the top consideration for 86% of these parents when buying school supplies.   

Highlights of Staples 2015’ Back-to-School Parents Survey include:

Dollar Tree's yearlong takeover saga, in which the retailer's offer to buy Family Dollar prompted a separate buyout attempt from Dollar General, is finally over.

Dollar Tree Inc. announced that it has completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Family Dollar Stores Inc. Dollar Tree also named a new president and COO of Family Dollar. The combined company will operate about 13,000 stores, making it the largest dollar store chain in the U.S. by store count. 

Mississauga, Canada – Walmart Canada is looking to extend its omnichannel grocery experience.

Starting on July 7, customers will be able to place online grocery orders for select product, including fresh food, for pickup in six stores in the Ottawa area. An additional five stores will offer the service starting on July 21. The pickup fee is $3 and customers will be able to order up to 21 days in advance.