Sales & Marketing

New product introductions aren’t what they used to be as evidenced by Doritos “Bold Flavor Experiment” involving mysterious variants of the spicy chips.

The Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo this week is introducing three new flavors of the Doritos Jacked brand to the snack food but not telling shoppers what they are called. The unconventional approach to generating trial also involves a unique contest element to encourage shoppers to digitally engage with the brand.

New York -- E-commerce company Birchbox, provide subscribers with monthly boxes of personalized beauty products for a monthly fee, announced Monday that it has raised $60 million of Series B funding from a group led by Greenwich, Conn.-based Viking Global Investors, Crain’s New York reported.

Birchbox, which is set to open its first physical store this spring, now has more than 800,000 subscribers receiving 6,500 different products from 800 brand partners.

Greenwich, Conn. — Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Retail Services has appointed Jessica Curtis as senior managing director in the Greenwich, Conn., office. Curtis will represent national clients in their expansion plans and work with local entrepreneurial retailers and restaurants ready to grow beyond their current locations.

San Diego -- Petco today that Brad Weston, currently executive VP, chief merchandising officer, has been named president of the company’s small-format division, Unleashed by Petco. In this newly created and expanded role, Weston will drive all future strategy and operations for Unleashed by Petco, while continuing to lead merchandising for the Petco brand.

Dallas — Shayan Holdings has purchased the 29,200-sq.-ft. Lebanon Ohio Center, an unanchored strip retail complex, in Frisco, Texas. The seller was LandPlan Development Corporation. The price was not disclosed.

The center is currently 90% occupied. Tenants include CrossFit Remedy and Arts and Technology Institute. CBRE’s Dallas office represented the seller in the transaction and conducted the financial analysis.

American Express added Walmart’s U.S. network of 4,100 stores as locations where customers can participate in the card issuers prepaid Serve offering.

Milwaukee -- Roundy’s, Inc. will open Mariano’s Edgewater in Chicago on April 22. Edgewater is the fifth Mariano’s store to open of the 11 former Dominick’s locations acquired by Roundy’s in December 2013, and the eighth in the city of Chicago.

Store features will include a Vero Italian coffee and gelato shop, Squeez’d smoothie bar, and access to “Mariano’s Tastemakers,” 14 chefs and lifestyle experts who provide demos and advice.

Office Depot has launched a digital campaign called “Teachers Change Lives. So Can You” to help raise awareness and funds for classroom supplies for teachers.

As a thank you to these educators, Office Depot has partnered with AdoptAClassroom.org, a national organization dedicated to collecting and distributing funds to teachers, who in many cases use their own money to purchase classroom supplies to ensure each student has the tools to succeed.