Supply Chain & Merchandising

Westboro, Mass. -- MICROS-Retail, a division of Micros Systems, announced BJ's Wholesale's successful launch of Micros-Retail's next generation loss prevention and business analytics solution, XBR Ingenium.
   
As an existing user of MICROS-Retail's XBR, BJ's launched a pilot of XBR Ingenium.  After a successful program, BJ's is now deploying Micros-Retail XBR Ingenium company-wide, seeking to increase the investigative capabilities and productivity of its asset protection team.

WESTBORO, Mass. — BJ's Wholesale will leverage Micros-Retail's loss prevention and business analytics solution, XBR Ingenium, to increase its asset protection team’s investigative capabilities and productivity.

Micros-Retail XBR Ingenium will allow BJ’s to generate flexible and behavioral exception reports, so it can focus on key areas of fraudulent activity. The business solution offers an interactive dashboard, so field users can quickly spot high-risk areas in their stores and districts.  

Washington, D.C. -- Total retail sales increased 0.1% in April from March, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Commerce Department. The increase, an improvement from a 0.5% decline in March, beat the 0.3% drop economists had predicted in a Bloomberg survey.  

Excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, sales  increased 0.6% seasonally adjusted from last month and increased 3.9% unadjusted year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation.

European apparel retailer H&M and Inditex, parent company of fashion retailer Zara, are signing on to the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement, an independent, legally-binding agreement to guarantee safe working conditions in the Bangladeshi garment industry. 

H&M is a top purchaser of garments from Bangladesh, and hopes that the agreement leads to “far-reaching improvements in working conditions.” 

Toys “R” Us has made some changes to its executive leadership.

The company has announced that Michael D. Fascitelli and Michael Ward have resigned their spots on the company’s board of directors. Fascitelli has been a director of the board since 2005, while Ward has been a director since 2007.

According to Toys “R” Us, neither Fascitelli’s nor Ward’s resignation was brought on as a result of any disagreement with the company. 

Foxborough, Mass. -- Charter Realty & Development said that it has signed a lease with consignment boutique Chic 2 Chic at the Foxborough Plaza, a 118,844-sq.-ft. shopping center in Foxborough, Mass.

The 22,000-sq.-ft. store is a relocation from downtown Foxborough and is the company’s only current store in the state.

The Foxborough Plaza, owned and managed by WP Realty, is almost 100% occupied, anchored by Ocean State Job Lot, and also featuring Dollar Tree, Dunkin Donuts and Xtreme Fitness.

Seattle -- The national vacancy rate for shopping centers dropped slightly from 10.09% to 10.06% in the first quarter of 2013, according to a study by global real estate services company Colliers International. In addition, shopping centers absorbed nearly 4.5 million sq. ft. in the first quarter.

Abilene, Kan. – Discount retailer Alco Stores blamed the impact of cold weather across the Midwest for helping to produce sluggish sales performance during fiscal first quarter 2013. Alco Stores reported sales of continuing operations excluding fuel of $116 million, up 0.9% from $114.9 million during the same period in 2012. Same-store sales excluding fuel were down 2.2%.