Mass Merchant

Walmart has been on a building boom in Northwest Arkansas. Small-format Express stores have been open now for several years, the new convenience concept Walmart To Go opened earlier this year and the latest development is a hybrid concept that allows online grocery orders to be picked up at a dedicated drive-through facility.

Northbrook, Ill. - Pine Tree Commercial Realty LLC has acquired Riverbend Marketplace, a regional shopping center located in Asheville, North Carolina, in partnership with Wanxiang America Real Estate Group. The 142,617-sq.-ft. shopping center is shadow-anchored by Walmart, anchored by Kohl’s and Petsmart, and features 110,715-sq.-ft. of national best-in-class retailers.

Isaac Mizrahi has a new yarn collection called Craft, and Michaels will carry it exclusively beginning this fall.

From super chunky to shimmery chic metallic, the line includes four New York -inspired, trend-driven collections:

Indianapolis – Hhgregg plans to hire more than 450 home electronics and home appliances sales associates this holiday season to support its 228 stores. Hhgregg is accepting applications for holiday positions starting Sept. 25, and plans to have all new hires on board and in stores by mid-October.

The retailer is seeking to hire both full-time and part-time associates, and though the positions are immediately needed for the holiday shopping season, all new hires will be considered for ongoing employment.

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reportedly wants to expand a pilot of a grocery delivery service it has been testing with Amazon.com in the San Francisco area. According to the Wall Street Journal, the USPS has applied to run a two-year test of the service.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open a new store in Northern California on Oct. 11. The store is located in Rocklin Commons in Rocklin, a suburb in the Sacramento area.  

This new opening is part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year. Together, Ross Dress for Less and DD’s Discounts currently operate over 1,300 off-price apparel and home fashion stores in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Guam.

New York - L.L. Bean provided the best overall customer service in August 2014. This marked the retailer’s fourth time topping Stella Benchmarks in customer service during 2014.

The retailer repeated its top performance from the previous month by ranking among the Top 25 in phone, email, shipping and returns. Nine companies that did not rank in the Top 25 overall for July earned a spot in August: Gap, Marc Jacobs, Burberry, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Motosport, Microsoft, Brooks Brothers and Wayfair.

Hudson’s Bay Company has signed a lease with Brookfield Property Partners L.P. to open an 85,000-sq.-ft. Saks Fifth Avenue store in Brookfield Place at 225 Liberty Street and a 55,000-sq.-ft. Saks Off 5th store at One Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan.

HBC is also leasing 400,000 sq. ft. of office space, adjacent to the Saks Fifth Avenue store at Brookfield Place. This space will become the home office for the company’s New York City-based corporate associates.