Store Systems

Monroeville, Pa. — Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc. has announced a series of anchor redevelopments at Monroeville Mall in Monroeville, Pa., including the relocation of J.C. Penney to a new 110,000-sq.-ft. store on the upper level of the former Boscov’s location.     

Additionally, the current J.C. Penney location will be redeveloped into a new state-of-the-art 12-screen Cinemark Theatre. 

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Safeway announced Thursday that the president of its Chicago-area Dominick’s Finer Foods division, Don Keprta, has resigned.

“Don has contributed significantly to the Dominick’s stores. His commitment and innovation helped the stores evolve to best serve the Chicagoland customers. We are fortunate that he has produced a team that is prepared to continue to build on our current momentum,” said chairman, president and CEO Steve Burd.

New York City -- An overwhelming majority (72%) of retailers report having a “great deal” of cash on their balance sheets and nearly half of them plan to invest some of it on information technology going forward, according to a survey by KPMG. At the same time, the executives’ assessment of the overall business outlook reflects only modest improvements in revenue and hiring in 2012.

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings announced that it has made three promotions in its merchandising, marketing and store operations functions. The company also announced that David P. Berg has resigned, effective this September, from his position as COO to pursue other interests.

Thomas Dowd, a 22-year GNC veteran, has been promoted from executive VP store operations and development to executive VP chief merchandising officer, and general manager.

Jeffrey Hennion has been promoted from executive VP chief branding officer to executive VP and CMO.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Seventy percent of retailers are empowering their employees with technology-enabled touch points to help their businesses to differentiate and evolve, according to a recent RSR Research report cosponsored by HP.

The study finds that by arming their associates with a range of technologies that provide relevant and timely information -- such as digital signage, self-service kiosks, mobile devices and advanced point-of-sale systems -- retailers can increase productivity and boost multichannel selling opportunities.

With the proliferation of pop-up stores around the country, it only makes sense that companies would begin to evaluate the kinds of staffing needed for these temporary retail environments. After all, personnel well-suited to a permanent store may not be the best fit for a pop-up.

The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is taking place this week (July 10 – 14) in Los Angeles, with some 15,000 from around the globe in attendance at the Staples Center. It’s a huge event, with over 100 breakout sessions each day, 22 regional keynotes and country breakouts. To kick-off the show, CEO Steve Ballmer said that, thanks to partners, Windows 7 has sold more than 400 million licenses in less than two years, and is still the fastest-selling operating system in history.

Here are some  other interesting tidbits from the conference:

New York City -- In an address Wednesday at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Los Angeles, COO Kevin Turner said that Microsoft hopes to open 75 freestanding Microsoft stores within the next two to three years.

“We’re going to open up to 75 more stores over the next two to three years, and continue to bring our stores outside the U.S. as well, so we’ve got a huge opportunity to get the Microsoft story out there, and we’re going to keep driving that,” Turner said.