News

Rouse properties has announced plans to enter into a joint venture agreement with Devonwood Investors in the transformation of an outdated Burlington, Vermont, mall into a mixed-use center. The deal is expected to be closed in the coming weeks.   Burlington Town Center, a traditional enclosed mall in the center of the state’s largest city, is to be converted into a modern apartment block including restaurants and an upgraded retail component.  

After six straight quarters of declining same-store sales, Whole Foods Market is feeling the heat.    Activist investor Jana Partners disclosed it had taken an 8.3% stake in the chain, and wants to accelerate its turnaround, Bloomberg reported.  

Amazon’s upward trajectory is not going to stop anytime soon — and it’s not going unnoticed on Wall Street.  

Target Corp. is deploying a number of solutions to reduce its energy use.     The retailer, recently named Energy Star Partner of the Year for the second year in a row, counts more than 1,400 of its buildings as having Energy Star status — the Environmental Protection Agency’s certification of energy efficiency — more than any other retailer. And the number is still growing as Target works towards its goal of having at least 80% of its buildings certified by 2020.  

Staples has been named a 2017 Energy Star Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award winner for continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements. It is the eighth year in a row the company has been so honored.   

Peet’s Coffee & Tea’s three-level outpost in historic Georgetown marries a contemporary design with the locale’s storied colonial past.  

Gymboree Corp.’s debt and mounting losses may have finally caught up with it.   The embattled retailer is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported, as it faces a June 1 interest payment on its debt.   Gymboree has more than $1 billion in debt resulting from its Bain Capital buyout in 2010. It warned in March that it was running short on cash.   

Amazon’s third-party sellers are hackers’ latest victims.   In recent weeks, attackers targeted the growing population of third-party sellers on Amazon.com, using stolen credentials from dormant accounts to sell nonexistent merchandise at bargain prices, and then collect the cash, according to Fox Business.