Retail

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.

LISLE, ILLINOIS — The Numerical Algorithms Group, Ltd., a provider of mathematical software components to industry and other organizations, has named Ken Kubat to the board of directors of its North American subsidiary NAG, Inc. The appointment is effective immediately.

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%).

Total U.S. Shopper Traffic in Retail Stores and Malls for February 2013

An unexpected decrease in shopper traffic around Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day led to an overall slower retail performance for the month of February.

Retail foot traffic for February decreased 5.4% compared with January 2013, departing from the positive year-over-year retail traffic trends seen in recent months. Foot traffic for February 2013 decreased 6.4% compared with the same month last year. 

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.

AUSTIN, Texas — Online coupons site RetailMeNot.com has launched a new online magazine, The Real Deal by RetailMeNot. As the editorial voice of RetailMeNot.com, the lifestyle daily delivers shopping, fashion, beauty, parenting, personal finance and seasonal advice to help consumers get more for their money, so they can get more for their lives.

Philadelphia -- Jones Lang LaSalle announced Wednesday that it has closed the sale of Red Lion Plaza for Onyx Equities and Invesco Real Estate. A private buyer purchased the 229,204-sq.-ft. retail shopping center that is located in northeast Phildelphia, is 95% occupied, and anchored by Best Buy, Staples, American Signature and Planet Fitness.

CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Sycamore Partners has agreed to acquire teen retailer Hot Topic for approximately $600 million, or 14 cents per share in cash. The agreement, which has been 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.