News

Regency Centers announced the signing of nine new tenants for The Market at Springwoods Village, a Kroger-anchored center slated to open in 2017 in the outer northern beltway of Houston.   New neighbors of the 100,000 sq.-ft. Kroger Marketplace will be Chick-fil-A; Cold Stone Creamery; Lovett Dental; Nails of America; MOD Pizza; Supercuts; Tarka’s Indian Kitchen; Torchy’s Tacos; and Zoe’s Kitchen. Retail space in the first phase of The Market totals 170,000 sq. ft.  

The Kroger Co. is installing cutting-edge exit signs as part of a $4 billion store- investment program.   The chain is deploying photoluminescent exit signs developed by Cincinnati start-up MN8 at all new and renovated stores nationwide. The LumAware signs differ from standard glow-in-the-dark products in that they also emanate light. The signs, which consumer no energy, eliminate the need for batteries, light bulbs, electricity or maintenance.  

The first-ever LinkedIn “Top Attractors” list of the most desirable companies to work is out, and several firms engaged in retail were included.  

Nordstrom Inc. has re-evaluated its near-term needs for e-commerce infrastructure.   The luxury retailer has decided to postpone the planned opening of a West Coast fulfillment center dedicated to fulfilling digital orders until 2020 or later.  

Amazon is expanding its fledgling bricks-and-mortar bookstore format.   The Internet giant plans to open a third Amazon Books this fall, at Washington Square Mall, in Tigard, Oregon, just outside of Portland, The Oregonian reported.   

Specialty alcoholic beverage retailer BevMo is shuffling its leadership team as part of an organizational transformation initiative.  

The POS has never been the most flashy or talked-about solution in the retail IT environment.   From manual cash registers up to client/server-based terminals, the basic idea of the POS as a fixed box that takes payment in and spits receipts out stayed pretty much the same.  

In a new federal lawsuit, The Home Depot Inc. is accusing Visa and MasterCard of not doing enough to ensure EMV-compliant, chip-based payment cards truly prevent fraud.  

The idea of Starbucks serving as a “third place” outside of home and work has been reinforced with a new add-in to Microsoft Outlook.  

Rite Aid Corp. reported disappointing first-quarter earnings and sales results in its first quarter amid pressure on pharmacy reimbursement rates.   The chain reported a loss of $4.6 million for the quarter ended May 28, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier. Excluding certain items, adjusted net income was $14.5 million, or 1 cent per diluted share, compared with 2 cents a year earlier.   The results fell short of Wall Street expectations.