News

Without a store base to support any fulfillment, pure-play home improvement retailer Build.com lives and dies by efficient product shipping.   Further complicating the retailer’s efforts to provide quality shipping while maintaining reasonable internal costs is the nature of its product assortment.  

The latest planned fulfillment center for Amazon.com will have a big impact on operations in the South.   The e-tail giant will open a new 600,000-sq.-ft. facility in Braselton, Georgia. When opened, it will create more than 500 new full-time jobs. Amazon currently has more than 1,500 full-time employees at its existing facilities in the state.   Employees at the Braselton center will pick, pack and ship large items for customers like household décor items, sporting equipment and gardening tools.

The IoT-based home shopping landscape is getting a little more crowded.

Circuit City is reportedly getting closer to a relaunch.  

Circuit City is reportedly getting closer to a relaunch.   The new owner of the defunct consumer electronics chain is currently working with brokers from CBRE to open a 6,000-sq.-ft. to 9,000-sq.-ft. prototype store in Dallas, reported consumer electronics industry publication Twice.     The relaunched business will also include a dedicated e-commerce site, as well as a presence on digital marketplaces such as Amazon.    

After 44 years of service, Donna Giordano, president of the Ralphs division of The Kroger Co., is retiring.   Giordano’s retirement from the company will be effective July 23. She joined the company's King Soopers banner as a courtesy clerk in 1972, while still in college, and was named store manager at King Soopers in 1982. Giordano later held various director-level positions in key areas, including advertising, bakery, general merchandise, grocery, and pharmacy.   

Meijer is on the move again.   The company on Tuesday opened a 192,000-sq-.ft. supercenters in Flossmoor and Round Lake Beach, Illinois.      The two new stores are part of an investment of more than $400 million in new and remodeled stores that Meijer is making this year, which is creating 3,000 new jobs across the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer's six-state foot print.    

Ikea is submitting plans to the City of Norfolk, Virginia, to open a 331,000-sq.-ft. store.   Pending approvals, construction of the proposed store could begin in spring 2017, with an opening in summer 2018. The retailer said it would evaluate potential on-site power generation to complement its current U.S. renewable energy presence at nearly 90% of its U.S. locations.  

The roster of speakers for the Aug.