Supply Chain & Merchandising

Boulder, Colo. — Transwetern’s Denver office has announced the completion of two leases at Hilltop Plaza, a four-story retail/office building in Boulder, Colo., in the University Hill shopping district just one block from the University of Colorado.

BoCo Café has taken a 1,742-sq.-ft. space in the food court. Spark Boulder, a provider of student and entrepreneurial co-working facilities, has leased 5,482 sq. ft. and plans to opening in November.

October 2013 is projected to be the coolest in four years for the U.S. as a whole. Expect colder year-on-year trends across the Northeast and Southwest, especially during retail weeks one, three and four. Wetter trends will encompass the Texas to Louisiana Gulf Coast, where tropical storm and hurricane potential will be the highest should any storms develop this month and threaten the U.S. mainland. The northern tier of the U.S. will trend drier than last year, especially across the Great Lakes.

First it was sustainability, then came hunger and the affordability of quality food, women’s economic empowerment and now support of U.S. manufacturing. Walmart contends it has a responsibility to lead in these areas and others, but whether it is truly doing so is the subject of some debate.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. today announced its inaugural listing on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index-North America.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index-North America tracks the economic, environmental and social sustainability performance of the top 20% of the 600 largest North America-based companies in the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index.

Plano, Texas – Shares of J.C. Penney Company took a beating on Friday after the retailer priced its $932 million share sale at a 7.4% discount and detailed its shrinking cash position.  

Penney priced its sale of 84 million shares at $9.65, down from a closing price of $10.42 on Thursday.

The new offering should raise more than $800 million. According to Reuters, J.C. Penney, which is valued at $2.6 billion, had been considering issuing new stock shares as well as other unspecified alternatives.

City Of Commerce, Calif. — 99 Cents Only has announced the opening of two new stores. The retailer will open an 18,960o-sq.-ft. store in McAllen, Texas, and an 11,685-sq.-ft. store in Laveen, Ariz. The grand opening of each store will feature the sale of Westinghouse Flat Screen TVs for only 99 cents each to the first nine customers in line to visit the store.

Both stores will feature a perishable food department, including produce, dairy and frozen foods.
 

Fast-growing flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators got an unpleasant surprise on Thursday when representatives from several federal agencies showed up at the company’s Toano, Va., headquarter with search warrants in hand.

In anticipation of increased store traffic this holiday shopping season, Jo-Ann has announced plans to hire more than 3,000 seasonal employees in stores across the country — a 14% increase over its non-seasonal in-store workforce.