Retail

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears plans to close a store in the Loop section of downtown Chicago in April 2014. Sears spokesperson Howard Riefs announced the closing in an email which said the store’s 160 employees, most of whom are part-time, will be eligible to apply for jobs at other Sears stores in the area and also to receive severance.

Dallas — Two new Dickey’s Barbecue Pits will open on January 23, one in Lumberton, Texas, and another in Fairmont, W. Va. Both will offer the first 50 customers gift cards for up to $50.

The Lumberton location will be franchise owner Andy Maredia’s second Dickey’s franchise in the area. He plans to open more locations in the future.

The Fairmont franchisees Joe and Bonnita Pena plan to open five additional locations.

Mobile is changing the way in which customers manage their drug store needs whether it be filling a prescription, accessing health resources or buying products, and CVS is aiming to take the lead in today’s digital space with a slew of innovative offerings that are yielding some significant results.

Chicago  — R.P. Wurster has acquired the 49,967-sq.-ft. Plainfield Commons in Plainfield, Ind., for $6.35 million. The 100% leased community shopping center features anchor tenants Dollar Tree and Shoe Carnival. Shadow anchors include Target, Kohl’s, Pier One Imports and PetSmart.

Mid-America Real Estate Corp. in cooperation with Mid-America Real Estate Corp. — Indiana brokered the transaction on behalf of the seller, RPD Catalyst.
 

Toms founder and CEO Blake Mycoskie is the latest recruit to join the B Team, a nonprofit initiative, co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. Mycoskie is the youngest member of team.

The B Team was created to encourage businesses to be a driving force for social, environmental and economic benefit.

New York -- The National Retail Federation on late Tuesday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner that called for replacing the magnetic-strip credit and debit cards that are widely used throughout the United States with chip-based cards that store data in an embedded computer micro-chip and require the use of a PIN rather than a signature. The chip-based cards are widely used in Europe, Asia and Africa.

St. Paul, Minn. – Bruegger’s Bagels opens a new store concept in Woodbury, Minn., today, and is launching a promotional contest to find artwork to place on a large brick feature wall in the store. Through March 31, amateur and professional artists can submit an abstract, two-dimensional design for the wall.

The winning design will be the focal point of the bakery and will be used in select new bakeries nationwide. The chosen artist will receive a $10,000 cash prize. Contest details are available on Bruegger’s Facebook page.

Target is the latest major retailer to announce it will stop offering health insurance to its part-time employees. In a company blog post on Jan. 21, Target said it will no longer provide health insurance coverage to part time workers after April 1.