Supermarket/Grocery

Target Corp. is planning to test an agricultural process that involves growing plants indoors in precisely programmed conditions.   The discounter plans to test vertical farms within select U.S. stores, according Business Insider. The idea grew out of the Food + Future CoLab, a collaboration between Target, Ideo and the MIT Media Lab.  

Walmart is hosting 26 startups to present their ideas as part of the company's Technology Open Call, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported Thursday.   The event is being held in conjunction with Friday's Northwest Arkansas Tech Summit and features companies like FreshSpire, a service that notifies participating consumers the availability of discounted produce that's about to expire. 

Park West Village

Location: Cary/Morrisville, North Carolina

Size: Approximately 750,000 sq. ft.

Owner: CASTO

Key tenants: Target, T.J. Maxx, Buy Buy Baby, Ross, PetSmart, Earth Fare, Chili’s, Travinia, Hallmark, Carter’s, Gander Mountain, Stone Theatres, Chico’s, White House Black Market, ULTA, Pier 1, Charming Charlie’s, Firebirds, Blackfinn Ameripub, LOFT, Starbucks

Leading-edge developers, retailers bring stores to people, not people to stores

Whole Foods Market is saving money and time — and benefiting the environment—by taking an innovative approach to going solar.

That’s according to an analysis by the Retail Industry Leaders Association and The Solar Foundation that found Whole Foods’ strategy of taking a standardized approach to rapid rollout of solar rooftop installations across multiple locations could be a valuable model for other retailers to consider.

Planning is well under way for the 53rd annual SPECS conference, which will be held at the Gaylord Palms in Kissimmee, Fla., March 12–14, 2017. The event is produced by Chain Store Age and is attended by retail and foodservice executives involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of stores and restaurants nationwide.

Supply chain visibility is important in omnichannel success. The Internet of Things could be the perfect tool to keep inventory hiccups throughout the demand chain to a minimum.

“While many retailers have a mind-set that IoT is about satisfying customers and not moving product, supply chain IoT use cases still interest retailers,” said Steve Rowen, managing partner at Retail Systems Research.

Updated regulations take effect Dec. 1 — are you ready?

In response to concern that wages at the low end of the pay scale were slow to rise, particularly for store managers and assistant store managers, the United States Department of Labor updated the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations defining which white collar workers must be paid overtime pay.

Move over Black Friday.   The biggest shopping day in terms of holiday sales is expected to be Friday, Dec. 23, while the biggest day in terms of store traffic is expected to be Saturday, Dec. 17, according to RetailNext Inc. (See lists at end of story.) It’s the first time in many years that Black Friday failed to top either of the lists.