Store Systems

New York -- Confirming the rumors that have swirled for the last few days, Seattle-based Nordstrom said Thursday that it has found a site for its full full-line department store in New York City.

The 285,000-sq.-ft. flagship will open along the 57th Street corridor at 225 West 57th – between Broadway and Seventh Avenue – at a site owned by Extell Development Co.

The store is expected to open in 2018.
 

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Dollar stores continue to thrive in this consumer-conscious economy, and Family Dollar is no exception.

The dollar store chain reported a total sales increase of 9.6% to $2.36 billion for the third quarter, compared with $2.15 billion for the same period last year. Same-store sales rose 5%, helped by increased customer traffic and strong performances in the seasonal, electronics and consumables categories.

Chicago -- A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that the Sprint-owned pay-as-you-go carrier Virgin Mobile will open 10 retail stores on Friday in Chicago, as part of its plan to leverage iPhone’s expansion into the prepaid wireless space.
 
With the openings, Virgin Mobile will become the second U.S. prepaid service to offer the Apple device, following the iPhone’s debut at Leap Wireless International on June 22.

NEW YORK — With the Nordstrom name often associated with high fashion, it is surprising that the retailer does not already have a flagship in New York City. In 2018, however, that will all change when the first full-line Nordstrom's store opens in the Columbus Circle area of Manahttan.

The store is being built by Extell Development Company and will occupy 285,000 square feet.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark has announced the appointment of Stephen Gold as chief information officer.

Gold, who joins CVS Caremark on July 9, will focus on bringing new and differentiating technology solutions to the company's retail and pharmacy benefit management businesses.

Gold joins CVS Caremark from Avaya, where he held the position of CIO. Prior to that, he served as the CIO and chief technology officer for the e-commerce solutions provider GSI Commerce.
 

MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy, which at its recent shareholders' meeting said it would offer more technology services, has announced that it is expanding the Best Buy Mobile brand and store-within-a-store concept into 14 Five Star stores throughout Nanjing, China, this summer.

The expansion of Best Buy Mobile into the Chinese market is the first evolution of Global Connect, a partnership that was formed in November 2011 between Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse.

Downers Grove, Ill. -- Survey results released Wednesday by CompTIA, the non-profit association for the IT industry, found that innovations in information technology continue to transform the retail sector, with digital signage, payment processing, customer engagement and other solutions playing increasingly important functions.

Seventy-two percent of retailers surveyed rate technology as important to their business, CompTIA's Retail Sector Technology Adoption Trends Study revealed. That figure projects to increase to 83% by 2014.

NEW YORK — A growing number of shoppers are using their smartphones to help them make in-store purchases. According to new Deloitte research, smartphones currently influence 5.1% of annual retail store sales, translating into $159 billion in forecasted sales for 2012, according to new Deloitte research. 

Deloitte arrived at its 5.1% figure by examining in-store sales driven by consumers' store-related smartphone activity such as product research, price comparison or other mobile application use.