Supply Chain & Merchandising

Charlotte, N.C. -- Salsarita's Fresh Cantina, a Mexican fast casual concept, has selected Micros Simphony Enterprise Solution for all corporate locations. In conjunction with Simphony POS, Salsarita's is deploying Micros Simphony's Reporting, Labor, Inventory, Loyalty, and Online Ordering modules.

Dublin, Calif. -- Ross Stores recently opened a total of 30 Ross Dress for Less and seven DD’s Discounts stores in 14 different states. These openings are part of the off-price retailer's 2014 expansion plans for about 95 new stores, which will include continuing to build presence in existing markets and grow in the newer markets initially entered in 2011.

Ross believes that long-term expansion opportunities include 2,000 Ross Dress for Less stores and 500 DD’s Discounts stores.

Ann Arbor, Mich. - Domino's Pizza is opening its first store in Paraguay. Grupo Vierci, master franchisee for Domino’s Pizza Paraguay, plans to open three new stores in the Asuncion area of the country by the end of May 2014.

Chicago - Mobile and online sales will continue to drive growth for retailers in 2014. However, according to a recent BDO USA survey, a majority (64%) of retail CFOs expect that online sales will grow in 2014, representing a modest decline from the number of CFOs expressing similar sentiments in 2013 (74%).

Chiquita Brands International plans to combine with and Fyffes, an international importer and distributor of tropical produce, in a stock-for-stock transaction that will create a global banana and other fresh produce company with approximately $4.6 billion in annual revenues.

Once the transaction is completed, before the end of 2014, Chiquita shareholders will own approximately 50.7% of ChiquitaFyffes, while Fyffes shareholders will own the remaining 49.3%, on a fully diluted basis.

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 12.4% in March 2014 as retailers begin to stock up for the spring and the summer season, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

In recent years, the retail industry’s view of technology has expanded from something only the IT department needs to be concerned about to something that other departments, such as marketing and finance, also share an active interest in. But as demonstrated by the speakers lined up for the March 11 Tech Boot Camps at this week’s SPECS conference in Dallas, technology is also a concern of operational departments such as store planning, energy management, construction management, and real estate.

Secure the Perimeter

Houston -- Mattress Firm Holding Corp. has entered into an agreement to acquire the outstanding equity interests of Sleep Experts Partners L.P., which operates Sleep Experts retail stores in Texas. In addition, Mattress Firm completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets and operations of Yotes, Inc., which operated stores under the Mattress Firm brand in Colorado and Kansas, as well as the Virginia retail operations of Southern Max LLC.