Supermarket/Grocery

Veteran Walmart store planner Jay Mitchael is a featured speaker at an upcoming event organized by Doing Business in Bentonville.

Mitchael, vp of store layout and space productivity at Walmart, is scheduled to speak Thursday, Nov. 13 at the Doing Business in Bentonville event which runs from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in Rogers, Ark. Among the topics the organization said he will address are changes in store design, current prototype rollout and something called the space capture project.

Jacksonville, Fla. -- Bi-Lo Holdings LLC, parent company of BI-LO, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, has completed an ATM installation project with Cardtronics ATMs. As part of an ATM services relationship that began with Winn-Dixie in 2003, Cardtronics owned and operated approximately 470 cash machines for that grocery store in 2013 when Bi-Lo Holdings agreed to transition additional locations and banner names to Cardtronics.   

Clifton, N.J. -- Blink Fitness is set to open its newest New Jersey location at Clifton Plaza in Clifton. The fitness chain will occupy 15,000-sq.-ft. of newly constructed retail space at the 80,000-sq.-ft. shopping center, which is managed and leased by Levin Management. Levin Management negotiated the long-term lease.   

Los Angeles -- PizzaRev, a fast-casual build-your-own pizza concept, is adding five franchise groups to develop the brand throughout Denver, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Long Island, New York and Columbus, Ohio. PizzaRev plans to open at least 40 franchise locations across the markets.   Beyond its 12 corporate locations in greater Los Angeles, PizzaRev currently operates franchise locations across four states.  

Retailers are in for a “humbug holiday” with a 3.4% overall increase in sales and a deceleration in e-commerce growth, according to a new forecast from retail industry consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners.

By Mike Kercheval, President and CEO, International Council of Shopping Centers  

New York –- Online footwear retailer Zappos is ranked the simplest brand in the U.S. And that’s a good thing. According to the new Brand Simplicity Index ranking of U.S. brands from brand advisory firm Siegel & Gale, the top 10 list is dominated by retailers. The list includes Amazon.com at number two, Subway (#3), Pizza Hut (#4), Netflix (#5), Trader Joe’s (#6), Kroger (#7), McDonald’s (#8), Chipotle (#9) and Dunkin’ Donuts (#10).

San Diego –- PriceSmart Inc. reported net income of $21.9 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, up 5% from $20.8 million in the same quarter the prior fiscal year. However, this was still beneath Wall Street expectations. However, PriceSmart beat Wall Street projections with total revenue of $622.6 million, a 5% hike from $585.4 million. The addition of two new warehouse stores, bringing the total to 33, helped boost revenues.