Supply Chain & Merchandising

Specialty beverage retailer BevMo! has appointed former Safeway executive Douglas J. Ratto as the company's EVP, chief merchant. Ratto will lead the buying, planning, allocations and distribution teams at BevMo!

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney joined the list of retail chains that plan to open their stores on Thanksgiving night to kick off the holiday shopping season.  

Penney will open most of its 1,100 stores at 8 p.m., the same as Macy's. Last year, Penney opened its stores at 6 a.m. on Black Friday, while rivals Macy’s and Kohl’s opened their doors at midnight.

Indianapolis — Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s Net Lease Investment Group recently brokered the sale of an 8,320-sq.-ft. Family Dollar in Indianapolis. An investment fund in Texas purchased the property from a private developer for $1.142 million, which is a 7.5% cap rate. The building is leased to Family dollar for 10 years.

The newly constructed Family Dollar is in the Lawrence Commons shopping center anchored by LA Fitness.

Chicago -- Although the first government shutdown in 17 years lasted 16 days, it left an impact on more than just the workers sent home after lawmakers failed to arrive at a deal to end the spending and debt stalemate. Total retail store shopper traffic during the week of Sept. 29 to Oct. 5 decreased 7.5% compared to the same time period last year, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics.

The Washington, D.C. area saw an even greater decrease, with an 11.4% decline in year-over-year shopper traffic the week of Oct. 6-12.

Leading U.K. food retailer Sainsbury just past online grocery sales of £1 billion ($1.6 billion U.S.) and to celebrate the occasion announced plans to open its first dedicated online fulfillment center in east London.

Home delivery of grocery is more commonplace in the U.K., especially London, where higher population densities and prohibitively high fuel prices discourage vehicle ownership.

Kraft Foods Group has selected Becknell Industrial to develop and build a new warehouse to support its existing facility in Champaign, Ill. The 730,000-sq.-ft. warehouse will be located on a 35-acre parcel adjacent to its manufacturing site, which is Kraft's largest production facility in North America.

Pittsburgh -- Dick's Sporting Goods announced the openings of two new stores, one in Kentucky, and its first ever in the state of Wyoming.

The retailer said it will open a store in Casper, Wy., on Oct. 25 at the Eastridge Mall. Also on Oct. 25, Dick’s will open at Gary Farms, Bowling Green, Ky.

The Bowling Green location will be the retailer's ninth store in the state of Kentucky and its 544th nationwide. 
 

New York — Representing the landlord, RKF has arranged an 18,817-sq.-ft. lease with family-owned grocer Westside Market at 84 Third Avenue in Manhattan’s East Village. When the new grocery opens next summer, it will become the fifth Westside Market location in Manhattan.

The new Westside Market will span 10,500 sq. ft. on the ground level, with the remaining space in the lower level. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Retail represented the Westside Market in the transaction.