Sales & Marketing

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Ikea, in partnership with American Forests, has planted 2 million trees across America through its Plant A Tree program.

Ikea launced the national in-store ‘Plant A Tree’ program in 1998 and since that time has raised $2 million through customer contributions and its own donations to plant the trees. During the month of April, Ikea Family ‘loyalty’ card member usage will also support Ikea in its donations to plant more trees through American Forests.

Los Angeles -- CIM Group announced the acquisition of Block 37, a five-story retail center located on the State Street retail corridor in Chicago’s Central Loop.

Block 37 is located directly across the street from Macy’s State Street. It is also in the heart of Chicago’s State Street retail corridor, which boasts a significant concentration of National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places and Chicago Landmark designated buildings and attracts millions of local customers and tourists every year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Walmart Foundation has joined with The Band Perry, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and four of the nation's largest food companies — General Mills, ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods and Kellogg Company — to fight hunger this spring. At an event in Nashville, leaders of this effort launched a campaign that will enable millions of Americans the opportunity to get involved by shopping at Walmart or visiting the company's Facebook page today through April 30.

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Ikea, in partnership with American Forests, has planted 2 million trees across America through its Plant A Tree program.

Ikea launced the national in-store ‘Plant A Tree’ program in 1998 and since that time has raised $2 million through customer contributions and its own donations to plant the trees. During the month of April, Ikea Family ‘loyalty’ card member usage will also support Ikea in its donations to plant more trees through American Forests.

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings announced the release of its new iPhone application and introduction to Android Market. The application will follow GNC's successful entry into the smartphone marketplace with its March 2011 launch of the GNC iPhone application, which has received more than 100,000 downloads to date.

In addition to including even more mobile commerce features, the new app features health and wellness resources.

New York -- The average vacancy rate at strip malls across the United States edged down for the first time in nearly seven years in the first quarter, falling to 10.9% from 11% in the prior quarter, according to preliminary data by real-estate research company Reis Inc., Reuters reported. It was the first decline in nearly seven years.

But the firm warned consumer spending is still not strong enough to lift retail real estate out of its slump.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores has named Jon Broz to the position of VP and assistant general counsel, litigation. Broz will report to James Snyder, Jr., SVP general counsel and secretary.

“We are excited to have someone with Jon’s breadth of retail litigation experience join our team,” said Snyder. “Jon has a strong reputation for working closely with his clients and seeking creative solutions to resolve disputes quickly and cost effectively.”

Chelmsford, Mass. -- The Retail Labor Index released Thursday by Kronos Inc. indicated that applications for retail jobs are waning.

The April Index, which characterizes the March 2012 state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector, prepared by Macroeconomic Advisers, was down slightly in March to a still solid 4.3%. (The index is defined as the ratio of hires to applications within a given month, expressed as a percentage. A level of 3% means that for every 100 applications received, three hires occurred).