Retail

Virginia Beach, Va. -- Divaris Real Estate announced Wednesday that six new stores totaling 57,434 sq. ft. will open at the company’s Pembroke Mall property, located in Virginia Beach, Va.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Hot Topic announced it has agreed to be acquired by New York-based private equity firm Sycamore Partners for $14.00 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $600 million.

The agreement, unanimously approved by Hot Topic’s board of directors, represents a premium of approximately 30% over Hot Topic’s closing stock price on March 6, 2013.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores on Thursday launched a new section on its website dedicated to products from small, women-owned businesses around the world.  

More than 200 items from 19 businesses in nine countries are featured in the new "Empowering Women Together" section of Walmart.com. The launch comes a day before International Women's Day.

New York -- More than half (53%) of industry leaders believe that improving customers’ retail experience is essential to creating a successful mobile payments scheme, according to a recent survey by SAP.

The study, SAP’s third consecutive GSMA Mobile World Congress survey, found that the “secret sauce” for creating a better retail experience includes POS services such as near-field communication (28%), facilitating universal acceptance of mobile payments (25%) and location-based point-of-sale offerings (24%).

Hackensack, N.J. -- Crossroads Cos. said that frozen yogurt franchise RCD Frozen Treats will open a 1,750-sq.-ft. store at Riverfront Plaza, located in Hackensack, N.J.

RCD Treats is a franchise of Go Greenly.

Riverfront Plaza is a 130,000-sq.-ft. neighborhood shopping center anchored by ShopRite. Other national retailers and service providers at the center include Chase Bank, GNC, H&R Block, KFC, Radio Shack, Subway, Supercuts, Taco Bell and Verizon Wireless.

New York -- Fast Company magazine and Target are sponsoring a competition, the Target Retail Accelerator, that will award $75,000 to a developer who creates the best new mobile app or mobile website for the retailer.  

Fast Company will chronicle the developers' efforts on the website of its new technology vertical Co.Labs.

I have to admit, the recent announcement of the merger between Office Depot and OfficeMax took me by surprise. It’s not as though it doesn’t make sense — it’s logical both logistically and financially — but, while there had been a few rumblings and rumors, this is a dramatic move that took place with relatively little forewarning.

Boulder, Col. -- Nordstrom is the nation’s favorite fashion retail chain, according to an annual consumer study conducted by customer intelligence solutions provider Market Force Information. The upscale department store edged out Kohl’s, which had ranked first in the three previous studies. This year, Kohl’s moved to the No. 2 spot overall, followed by Macy’s, Dillard’s and J.C. Penney.