Sales & Marketing

GameStop plans to hire approximately 25,000 employees nationwide as the company prepares for the upcoming holiday shopping season — nearly double the number of people it hired last year.

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) reportedly wants to expand a pilot of a grocery delivery service it has been testing with Amazon.com in the San Francisco area. According to the Wall Street Journal, the USPS has applied to run a two-year test of the service.

Simon has long been known as one of the pre-eminent players in retail real estate and shopping center management and development. But with the formation of a new venture capital division, Simon Venture Group, and partnership with Plug and Play, a global investor and technology accelerator that specializes in growing tech startups, Simon is looking to take a leading role in retail IT, as well.

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.

Walmart has been on a building boom in Northwest Arkansas. Small-format Express stores have been open now for several years, the new convenience concept Walmart To Go opened earlier this year and the latest development is a hybrid concept that allows online grocery orders to be picked up at a dedicated drive-through facility.

Washington, D.C. – Total Halloween spending will reach $7.4 billion. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) Halloween Consumer Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average person will spend $77.52 this Halloween, compared to $75.03 the prior year.

Kroger is a member of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Million Dollar Club for the second consecutive year. The company was inducted in the $250 to $500 million annual expenditure category.

Arlington, Va. -- The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and global sustainability non-profit Forum for the Future have launched a project to empower sustainability initiatives, Retail Horizons. The project is being launched ahead of the RILA 2014 Retail Sustainability Conference held from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, in Minneapolis. Click here for a two-minute video on the program.