Retail Execution

New York - Brixmor Property Group, owner and operator of the largest wholly-owned portfolio of grocery-anchored shopping centers in the U.S., has named Christopher Ralph as VP leasing and will be based in Orlando, Florida. In this role, Ralph will oversee the leasing at Brixmor’s 58 community and neighborhood centers in Florida, which collectively total nine million-sq.-ft..

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open a new store in the Philadelphia area on Oct. 11. The store is located in Pilgrim Gardens in Drexel Hill.  

This new opening is part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.

Elmsford, N.Y. - Party City has promoted Gregg A. Melnick to the position of president of Party City Holdings, effective immediately. Party City Holdings is the parent company of the Party City Retail Group and Amscan Inc., among other entities.  

Most recently, Melnick was the president of the Party City Retail Group. Melnick will partner with all of the key department heads across both the retail and wholesale divisions to provide the leadership to strengthen the brands and create opportunities for greater collaboration.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Trademark Property Co., the Fort Worth-based retail and mixed-use development, investment, and third-party services firm, announced that Kara Rafferty has joined the firm as director of leasing. An 18-year industry veteran, Rafferty will focus on Trademark’s leasing efforts throughout Texas.

Houston - Mattress Firm Holding Corp. has completed its acquisition of the mattress specialty retail assets and operations of Back to Bed Inc., M World Mattress LLC, MCStores LLC and TBE Orlando LLC, which collectively operate Back to Bed and Bedding Experts retail stores in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin and Bedding Experts and Mattress Barn retail stores in Florida.

Dallas - 7-Eleven has selected the Raid 7 software solution from WeDo Technologies for the retailer's Mexican operations. With more than 1,700 stores across the country, 7-Eleven México needed an enterprise business software suite to deliver end-to-end visibility and control of its retail processes; analyzing and identifying risks and monitoring and controlling deviations.

Northbrook, Ill. - Pine Tree Commercial Realty LLC has acquired Riverbend Marketplace, a regional shopping center located in Asheville, North Carolina, in partnership with Wanxiang America Real Estate Group. The 142,617-sq.-ft. shopping center is shadow-anchored by Walmart, anchored by Kohl’s and Petsmart, and features 110,715-sq.-ft. of national best-in-class retailers.

Canton, Mass. – Dunkin’ Donuts is recruiting franchisees in Minnesota with an emphasis on Minneapolis and Mankato. Seven freestanding Dunkin' Donuts locations are planned to open during the next several years in the greater Duluth area.

To help fuel growth in Minnesota, special development incentives are available, which include reduced royalty fees for three years and up to $10,000 in local store marketing for stores that meet certain goals.