Sales & Marketing

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart announced the deployment of five rooftop solar arrays for Walmart and Sam’s Club locations in Puerto Rico. The solar program is made possible through a solar energy service agreement where Sun Edison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, will design, deploy, operate and maintain over three megawatts of solar technologies across the five locations with no upfront costs to Walmart.

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. -- Fameco Real Estate, L.P., announced that Sports Clips has signed five new leases in the Philadelphia region as part of its store roll-out campaign.

In December, Sports Clips’ first area store opened at Park East Plaza in Cherry Hill, N.J. It will be followed by store openings at the Nassau Pavilion in Princeton, N.J., The Shoppes at English Village in North Wales, Pa., Providence Town Center in Collegeville, Pa., and at the Marketplace at Neshaminy, in Bensalem, Pa., in 2011. 

NEW YORK — A report released by payment system provider ACI Worldwide found that many retail loyalty programs leave consumers feeling underappreciated and many consumers are enrolled in a program they don’t completely understand.

Richmond, Ky. -- Charlotte, N.C.-based Crosland LLC announced two new lease signings with Michaels and Chiro One at Richmond Centre, a regional shopping, entertainment and hospitality venue in Richmond, Ky.

Michaels will open a 20,011-sq.-ft. store as a junior anchor tenant in October.

Chiro One opened a 2,127-sq.-ft. clinic in February.

Chicago -- Walmart has announced two additional store openings for Chicago, bringing the total number of stores it plans to open in the Windy City by 2013 to six.

The new stores will create close to 1,000 new jobs and nearly 200 construction jobs putting Walmart on the path to meeting the goals outlined in its "Chicago Community Investment Partnership."

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said the stores will bring fresh food and groceries to some of the city's most underserved neighborhoods.

COLUMBUS, Ohio  -- Victoria's Secret announced that it has expanded its partnership with Major League Baseball Properties to include 12 new teams for its line of co-branded (VS) PINK merchandise. The spring 2011 collection will feature the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, 2010 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals.

New York City -- Men’s Wearhouse will remodel more than 100 stores and open 20 to 30 new locations this year, Women’s Wear Daily reported.

This marks a big increase from last year, when 35 stores were remodeled, the report said.

New York City -- The Labor Department’s Producer Price Index rose last month, primarily due to higher energy costs and the biggest rise in food prices in 36 years, USA Today reported.

Food prices rose 3.9% last month, the highest increase since November 1974.

The steep rise was due, in large part, to higher vegetable costs, which were up nearly 50%.