Supermarket/Grocery

Chelmsford, Mass. -- The ratio of retail hires to applicants has gone up to the highest number since August 2008, rising to 4.8% in October, according to the Kronos Retail Labor Index. (The Index is defined as the ratio of hires to applications within a given month, expressed as a percentage. A level of 3% means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred.)

West Milford, N.J. -- Inserra Supermarkets has been granted final site plan approval for the renovation and expansion of West Milford Shopping Center, which includes a 65,925-sq.-ft. ShopRite.

The 100,000+-sq.-ft. retail center’s tenant roster includes Wells Fargo Bank, Rite Aid, Frank’s Pizza and Just a Buck, and adjoins a free-standing McDonald’s restaurant.

Washington -- The National Retail Federation and more than a dozen of the nation’s most prominent retailers today asked a judge to reject a proposed class-action settlement of a federal antitrust lawsuit, saying it would not bring credit card swipe fees charged by Visa and MasterCard under control and does not give retailers who oppose it an adequate mechanism to opt out.

New York -- The TJX Cos. turned in the strongest performance among the discounters in October, reporting a 7% comp sales increase on Thursday.

According to TJX CEO Carol Meyrowitz, the above-plan performance has prompted the retailer to raise its outlook for the third quarter and full year. “We believe the momentum we are seeing in all of our businesses … bode well for the holiday selling season,” she said.

TJX sales for the period advanced 11% to $2.1 billion.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Tyco Retail Solutions, a provider of retail performance and security solutions sold direct and through authorized business partners worldwide, has expanded its portfolio of Sensormatic acousto-magnetic Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) hard tags and alarming wraps. The newly available tags address many high theft, high velocity categories and give retailers a broad, comprehensive solution to protect their entire store, the company said.

The New Sensormatic Tag Portfolio includes:

New York -- Sales of Halloween candy, decorations and other items may not reach the $8 billion mark anticipated earlier by the National Retail Federation as Hurricane Sandy turned consumers’ attentions elsewhere.

Covington, La. -- Stirling Properties announced that Sam’s Club has opened at its River Chase shopping center, the largest open-air retail center in St. Tammany Parish.

The 136,000-sq.-ft. Sam’s Club features a fuel station and pharmacy, and joins anchors Target, Belk and J.C. Penney at the master-planned, mixed-use development.

London -- Barnes & Noble said Monday that its subsidiary Nook Media will partner with U.K.’s largest supermarket chain Asda to sell the Nook reader in 300 Asda stores across the U.K.

Barnes & Noble said it plans to expand the expected number of U.K. retail outlets to over 2,500 and include various online retail platforms as well. Terms of its deal with Asda weren’t disclosed.