Sales & Marketing

Toronto -- Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group and Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust, Toronto, announced Tuesday that they will launch construction on Canada’s first upscale outlet center on April 25.

The first phase of the planned 500,000-sq.-ft. center will open in summer 2013.

Toronto Premium Outlets is a 50/50 joint venture between Calloway and Simon, and will feature more than 100 upscale outlet stores.

New York -- Uniqlo announced that it will open a 29,000-sq.-ft. flagship in San Francisco, in the fall of 2012. The store, which will be located at 111 Powell Street, close to the Union Square shopping district, marks the brands’ first location outside of New York and will act as the epicenter for expansion along the West Coast.

Minneapolis -- In a surprise announcement, Best Buy Co. said Tuesday that CEO Brian Dunn has resigned from the company. Company director G. Mike Mikan has been named interim CEO. Richard Schulze, the founder of Best Buy, continues to serve as chairman.

In March there was a decline in the number of circulars overall, however, pages per flyer increased. The increase in pages was primarily due to a significant increase in Walmart and Toys"R"Us page counts. Much of the promotional activity was driven by Easter falling earlier in April as compared to 2011.

Walmart distributed an additional four-page flyer in the week of 3/11/2012; they also circulated two flyers instead one in most of the markets in the week of 3/4/2012. These additional flyers accounted for the increase total pages as compared with last year.

At Westfield San Francisco Centre, a nightly light show projected onto the mall’s iconic dome is expected to be a huge draw.

The center, owned by Westfield, will be showcasing a one-of-a-kind animated 3D light spectacular, called The Heart of San Francisco, which will run nightly on Level 4 Under the Dome from June 15 through July 31.

Featuring iconic San Francisco images, the free show will be projected on the Centre’s 102-ft.-wide dome and set to a collection of San Francisco songs.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. — BJ's Wholesale Club is capitalizing on the growing demand for locally-grown produce by launching its "Farm to Club" program in each of its 195 clubs in 15 states. Rolling out this spring and summer, the Farm to Club program includes a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables that will be clearly marked with a special "Farm to Club, Locally Grown" seal.

Dallas -- The Container Store said Tuesday it has enlisted Epsilon, a subsidiary of marketing solution-provider Alliance Data Systems Corp., for comprehensive data and database marketing services.

The services are designed to fuel marketing efforts to acquire and retain customers and increase sales.

Atlanta -- A report released Tuesday by First Data Corp., which tracks same-store consumer spending by credit, signature debit, PIN debit, EBT cards and checks at U.S. merchant locations, found that warm weather and spring promotions boosted discretionary spending in March.

According to First Data’s March 2012 SpendTrend report, year-over-year dollar volume growth was 8.7% in March, compared with February’s 8.9% growth.