Warehouse

Seattle - REI will open a third distribution center, located in Goodyear, Arizona. The specialty outdoor retailers seeks to better support its stores and customers through faster product replenishment and delivery.

Washington, D.C. -- Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to rise 8% this month over the same time last year as West Coast ports continue to recover from a backlog of cargo that built up before a tentative new labor agreement was signed, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Wednesday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.



New York -- Tiger, the Danish discount chain known for its low prices and design emphasis, is entering the United States, opening a 5,000-sq.-ft. flagship in May, in New York City.

Tiger stores offer a quirky, ever-changing selection of exclusive products across a wide variety of categories, including home, toys, hobby, party, snacks, electronics, gadgets, fashion accessories and seasonal. The majority of its products, roughly half of which are designed in house, sell for $10 or less.

Stoughton, Mass. -- Ikea has gone live with the expanded solar energy array atop its store that opened nine years ago in Stoughton, Massachusetts. The 51,516-sq.-ft. solar panel addition consists of a 318-kW system built with 1,248 panels, and will produce 385,900 kWh more of electricity annually for the store. It sits atop a 58,575-sq.-ft. store extension completed last summer.

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Brazilian mass merchandise retailer Etilux has selected the HighJump Warehouse Advantage warehouse management system (WMS) for its diverse supply chain needs. Etilux worked with Otimis, HighJump’s partner in Brazil, to select HighJump Warehouse Advantage.

Woodbury, N.Y. -- DJM Real Estate, a division of Gordon Brothers Group, has been retained by RadioShack Corporation to handle the disposition of seven owned industrial properties. These properties are located in Texas, California, Iowa and North Carolina.

DJM will be offering the properties for immediate sale, and can be purchased individually or in any combination, subject to U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval.

Chicago - West Marine will open a new 20,000-sq.-ft. flagship Midwest store on North Halsted Street in Chicago on April 23. The new Chicago store is located just off the North Branch Canal of the Chicago River that wraps around Goose Island.

By Hayden Shipp, IBISWorld

Shippers, carriers, longshoremen, businesses and consumers alike can breathe a sigh of relief in light of the tentative deal the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) reached on Feb. 20.