Store Systems

By Ryan Ramaker, Acuity Brands

LED lighting is a growing trend in buildings today and with very good reason. It delivers significant energy savings compared to traditional light sources, and the illumination, lifespan and color qualities of LEDs continue to impress.  
   
But there are also additional benefits that are often overlooked. Quality LED illumination can help retailers solve some of the most common retail lighting problems. Here are the top three:

Sidney, Neb. -- Cabela’s Incorporated announced today plans to open a store in Calgary, Alberta. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, with a fall 2015 opening.

The 70,000-sq.-ft. store will be located adjacent the Deerfoot Mall, which is currently under plan review as an open air shopping center redevelopment project.

It will be Cabela’s third location in Alberta, joining two locations in Edmonton, which opened in 2011 and May of this year.

Sears and Kmart are expanding free store pickup to more than 2,000 locations. The online/in-store collaboration will allow customers to pick up sears.com or kmart.com orders at any Sears or Kmart store and orders will be ready in five minutes or less.

Having passed the calendar’s mid-point, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the most viewed stories of the year to date on Chainstoreage.com.

San Jose, Calif. – RetailNext Inc., a provider of Big Data analysis solutions for physical retail, has completed $30 million in growth financing. The company drew strategic investments from Qualcomm Inc. through its venture investment group Qualcomm Ventures, Tyco and American Express.

Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) led the round which included new investor Activant Capital Group and existing shareholders August Capital, StarVest Partners and Commerce Ventures. The financing brings the total capital raised by RetailNext to $59 million.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. - Sears and Kmart will allow pick up of Sears.com or Kmart.com orders at any of each other's more than 2,000 U.S. stores. Customers will be able to select free store pickup and a preferred pickup location for specially marked online items

The order will then ship to the chosen store and the customer will receive an email confirmation when it is ready for pickup. The customer has three pickup options – with each one offered in five minutes or less:

New York - Retail developer MarketPlace Development announced that the food and stores at LaGuardia Airport's Terminal B will receive a major overhaul in 2014. With a new terminal slated to start construction in 2015, the redevelopment will provide upgrades for the existing aging terminal, including new shops and restaurants, enhanced amenities and infrastructure upgrades for HVAC and escalators in the food courts.

Salt Lake City - The Howard Hughes Corporation (HHC) and Smith’s Food & Drug are planning a 78,000-sq.-ft.food and drug store in Holladay, Utah. The 57-acre mixed-use Cottonwood development, located eight miles from downtown Salt Lake Cit, will feature upscale shopping, dining, entertainment and offices in a “Town Square” style setting as well as multi-family residences when complete.