Store Systems

By Bill Davis, Director, MB&G Consulting

It may only be October, but here’s a prediction: It’s going to be a high-tech holiday, and I’m not talking about the gift-giving part of it. (Although in a refrain I think will play out in countless homes over the next couple of months, my 20-year-old godson has told his family the ONLY thing he wants for Christmas is a new Apple phone.)

But the big story this year is likely to be retailers’ increased use of emerging technologies that bring the digital and brick-and-mortar worlds together.

Increasingly, people are endlessly fascinated by the traits, values, work habits and shopping patterns of millennials, also called Generation Y. Why is all this attention being paid to people born between the early 1980s and 2000s? It’s quite simple: They are a generation of influence, in numbers similar to that of baby boomers, but with an outlook unlike one we have ever seen.

According to Javelin Strategy & Research, by 2015, Gen Y income is projected to exceed that of boomers.

By Howard W. Herndon

Mixed-use projects have become a consumer home base

The concept of a shopping center as a place where people simply show up to make a few purchases and leave is becoming passé. Increasingly, developers are building mixed-use centers that include residential, office and entertainment components, which turn them more into a consumer home base and less of a functional destination.

Covington, La. - Smoothie King Franchises Inc. will roll out the Revel Systems iPad POS solution at 700 stores globally in fall 2014. Smoothie King selected the Revel platform for its scalability and ability to streamline operations.

Champaign, Ill. – Quick-service chain Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches reportedly had customer credit card information stolen from its payments systems at 216 of its 2,000 stores by hackers. According to Bloomberg, log-in credentials from a payment systems vendor were used by hackers to infiltrate POS systems at its stores between June 5 and Sept. 5.

Jimmy John’s first learned of the breach on July 30 and has been using forensics experts to investigate it. The retailer says the breach has been contained.

New York -- Woolrich, the Pennsylvania-based outwear and lifestyle brand, has opened its first-ever freestanding store, in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The move follows the recent opening of three Woolrich stores in Europe, including a store in Hamburg, Germany, and Prague.