Supply Chain & Merchandising

New Iberia, La. -- Centro Properties Group said that T.J. Maxx will open a 24,035-sq.-ft. store at Lagniappe Village, in New Iberia, La. 

New York City-based Centro is the owner of Lagniappe Village.

Elizabeth, N.J. -- Columbus, Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust has announced plans for the largest single-roof top solar system in North America to be built on the roof of Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth, N.J.

The Dec. 23 edition of SiteTalk referenced a recent survey, which found that driving responsible growth, in addition to protecting and building the brand, is a chief priority for retailers in 2011. We asked you, our readers, if that priority was consistent with your 2011 objectives. Here is what one reader had to say.

Minneapolis -- Just days after announcing 2011 U.S. expansion plans, Target announced an acquisition in Canada that will enable it to open between 100 and 150 stores during the next four years. The company announce that it has agreed to pay C$1.825 billion to purchase from Zellers Inc., a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Co., the leasehold interests in up to 220 sites currently operated by Zellers. This transaction will allow Target to open its first Target stores in Canada beginning in 2013.

Chicago -- Walgreens’ massive Customer Centric Retailing initiative is transforming the way the company’s stores are merchandised and designed as it rolls into an ever-larger proportion of its more than 7,600 stores across the United States. But it’s only the opening drive in a campaign to “reinvent the customer experience in our stores,” president and CEO Greg Wasson told shareholders Wednesday.

MINNEAPOLIS - Just days after announcing 2011 U.S. expansion plans, Target announced an acquisition in Canada that will enable it to open between 100 and 150 stores during the next four years. The company announced that it has agreed to pay C$1.825 billion to purchase from Zellers Inc., a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company, the leasehold interests in up to 220 sites currently operated by Zellers Inc. This transaction will allow Target to open its first Target stores in Canada beginning in 2013. 

New York City -- Microsoft Corp. announced that Bill Gonzalez, general manager of its worldwide distribution and services sector, has been elected to the associate member advisory council for the board of directors of the National Retail Federation. The announcement was made at the NRF Annual Convention & EXPO in New York.

Retailers at NRF’s convention this week got a citing of Bill Fields, a former Walmart executive who spent 25 years with the company serving in various roles from 1971 to 1996. Today Fields is chairman of a group called China Horizon, a joint venture with the Chinese postal service charged with helping to develop retail and consumption in rural China, and it was the topic of China that Fields addressed during the super session: “Making the retail business dynamic,” sponsored by Microsoft.