Store Systems

By Nancy Chisholm, [email protected]

Bellevue, Wash. -- Coinstar Inc. said Monday it has completed its $100 million acquisition of DVD rental kiosks and other assets from rival NCR Corp.
 
Under the terms of the deal, Coinstar will buy products and services from NCR. According to Coinstar, the addition of the kiosks will allow its Redbox DVD rental kiosks to expand to new retail partners.
 

Minneapolis -- Best Buy announced Tuesday 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.

Johannesburg, South Africa -- RedPrairie Corp., a global supply chain and retail technology provider with a local office in Johannesburg, has been selected by Woolworths South Africa to provide a workforce management solution (WFM) to help improve the in-store customer experience.

RedPrairie’s WFM solution leverages engineered standards and demand-based forecasts to optimize scheduling, task assignment, and performance measurement as well as compute and pay incentives.

MOORESVILLE, N.C — Former Whirlpool executive, Kevin Summers, has been appointed chief information officer of Lowe's, effective July 9. Summers will report to chairman, president and CEO Robert Niblock. He replaces Michael Brown, who retired earlier this month.

By Jeff Weidauer, [email protected]

Showrooming is the latest in what appears to be a never-ending series of paradigm shifts for retailers. This is the relatively new activity where shoppers visit a brick-and-mortar store, look at a product, and buy it online. Best Buy is possibly the hardest-hit; it’s been slapped with the unfortunate moniker “Amazon Showroom,” which describes just how widespread this phenomenon has become.

Seattle -- Nordstrom said it will open a Nordstrom Rack at The Fountains at Farah, a new power and lifestyle shopping center in El Paso, Texas. The store will be approximately 35,000-sq. ft. and is scheduled to open in the fall 2013.

The Fountains at Farah, with over 600,000 sq. ft. of retail and restaurant space, is being developed and managed by Centergy Retail LLC, Dallas.

A trailblazing town center is getting more space and a cosmetic update.

Easton Town Center (Columbus, Ohio) co-developers Steiner + Associates and The Georgetown Co. have announced that they will be adding more than 50,000 sq. ft. of new tenants this year and renovating more than 150,000 sq. ft. of existing space.

“Great projects evolve on purpose,” said Yaromir Steiner, CEO, Steiner. “Our vision for Easton has been, and continues to be, to challenge ourselves to make it better every day.”