Supermarket/Grocery

Nashville, Tenn. -- GBT Realty Corporation announced it acquired a 13.1-acre site along Memorial Blvd in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for $2.4 million. The company plans to develop the site into The Shoppes of Northgate, a 98,000-sq.-ft. center anchored by a 30,000-sq.-ft. Sprouts Farmers Market, along with retail tenants PetSense, Liquor Barn and Newk’s Eatery. The construction of the $16 million retail center is expected to begin this month with store openings set for spring 2016.

Various technology analysts, retail industry pundits, and economists of all stripes, have long predicted the demise of paper and coin currency along with the dawn of a cashless society.

And it is true that over the last few years, we’ve seen a big acceleration in the drive towards large-scale consumer adoption of new digital payments technologies, especially in the mobile category.

Consumer packaged goods companies eager to keep pace with shoppers’ desire for product ingredient transparency have embraced a major initiative branded as SmartLabel.

SmartLabel is the name given to an initiative spearheaded by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) that is designed to give consumers easy access to detailed information on ingredients and hundreds of other product attributes, such as whether food items contain ingredients from genetically modified sources.

Retailers that think they have digital security under control may want to take a second look at their protocols.

According to a new study from risk predictive analytics firm Bay Dynamics, "The Pre-Holiday Retail Risk Report," a significant amount of retailers assign the same login credentials to employees and do not know if employees have leaked sensitive data.

Despite these common gaps, a majority of 125 retail IT decision-makers surveyed said they have full confidence that their sensitive information is sufficiently protected.

In October, Walgreens announced plans to acquire Rite Aid in a deal that had been widely anticipated. The deal is most certainly going to reshape the retail market by creating a drug store giant with nearly 13,000 stores in the United States; as well, it foretells of the significant changes occurring in the healthcare market.

Walmart is the only chain retailer to fully meet a goal it made related to an initiative of opening stores in “food deserts,” the Associated Press reported. [Associated Press]

While mobile technology has changed the way people shop, consumers — including the most tech-savvy — still do the vast majority of their shopping in shopping centers.

At least that’s according to a new survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers, which found that 83% of U.S. consumers visit a shopping center at least once a week, including 92% of 18 to 24 year olds. Overall, the young consumers visit shopping centers on average 10.8 times a week.

Brookshire Grocery Co. is undertaking an ambitious omnichannel transformation plan, and focusing it on the wants and needs of the consumer.

“We know everything there is to know about our customers,” said John D’Anna, senior VP and CIO of Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire, in an interview with Chain Store Age. The regional chain operates 152 stores under the Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods and Fresh by Brookshire’s banners.