Sales & Marketing

The growth aspirations of Conn’s were revealed in the span of a few days recently when, with a new CEO at the helm, it entered the Georgia market and increased its presence in Colorado.

Between new formats, e-commerce efforts and supply chain initiatives, interesting times are ahead for Bed Bath & Beyond – even if second quarter sales were weak and profits declined.

An ongoing computer glitch has been wreaking major havoc at Walgreens. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Deerfield, Illinois-based drugstore giant was gradually restoring its automated pharmacy system this week after a massive outage on Sept. 22.

Pharmacists at all 8,200 U.S. Walgreens stores had to start manually filling prescriptions on Tuesday morning after the glitch occurred following overnight maintenance. As of the afternoon of Sept. 24, thousands of stores still lacked access to Walgreens’ central pharmacy database.

There’s no time like face time. Whether closing a multi-million dollar business deal or selling discount apparel, nothing moves the needle like human engagement. And although modern POS solutions have been revolutionary in integrating inventory, customer data, omnichannel sales, and a slew of other retail success factors, large cash-wraps have driven a physical wedge between merchant and customer.

Six months after opening a Skechers concept shop, Meijer is taking the next step in what appears to be a more ambitious rollout of the branded shop to additional footwear departments.

Dallas -- Trademark Property Co. announced that BuzzBrews,’ Cinépolis USA and Café Victoria will join Victory Park, a 75-acre mixed-use development in downtown Dallas. BuzzBrews’ and Café Victoria to open in early 2016 and Cinépolis USA, targeted for 2017.

Dallas, Ga. -- Marcus & Millichap announced the sale of a 17,930-sq. ft. CVS Strip Center in Dallas, Georgia, for $4.2 million. The property is 70% anchored by CVS Health with a 15-year corporate-guaranteed double-net lease.

Smart & Final celebrated the one year anniversary of its public stock offering by telling investors a growth story about differentiation and new store expansion.

Smart & Final, a uniquely positioned operator of 266 warehouse style stores, has plans to open 100 new stores in the Western United States during the next four years. CEO Dave Hirz dropped that bombshell while he and other senior members of the company were at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell to commemorate the one year anniversary of the company’s listing.