News

WMT exec to offer Savings Catcher insight
With the one year anniversary of Walmart’s Saving Catcher app approaching, the executive who led its development is slated to give an update on what’s next for the price comparison app at a May 14 event in Bentonville.

Greg Chandler, senior marketing director of customer engagement at Walmart, is the featured speaker at an upcoming meeting of Doing Business in Bentonville. Chandler is scheduled to speak on the topic of “Walmart mobile retail – how Savings Catcher is changing the way Walmart things about digital retail.”
UPLIFTING CENTRAL NEW JERSEY
The Shoppes at Middletown brings specialty retail and dining to affluent eastern Monmouth County

A unique new shopping center is being designed to bring boutique and specialty retail and dining options to eastern Monmouth County in Central New Jersey. The Shoppes at Middletown, at 380,000 sq. ft., will emerge as a premier town center development when it opens in 2017. The project will be developed on 50 acres of the overall 120-acre project, and will feature 2,200 ft.

A BULLISH M&A FORECAST

Gaining market share and geographic coverage are top priorities driving deals

Retail continues to rally for deals in 2015, and the sector could be on the cusp of another major year for mergers and acquisitions. Already this year, we’ve seen speculation about a number of potentially massive deals — from a possible buyout of Rite Aid by Walgreens Boots Alliance to the proposed merger between Staples and Office Depot. Looking across the industry, as part of BDO’s annual Retail Compass Survey of CFOs, we asked chief financial officers at leading U.S.
LEDs TAKING CENTER STAGE

The way retailers light their stores is experiencing a major transformation as more and more retailers adopt LED lighting solutions. The experts at PowerSecure Lighting (powersecurelighting.com) spoke with Chain Store Age about LED lighting trends and LED retrofits.

What is the biggest trend you are seeing in retail lighting?

The shift to LED lighting.
Celebrate Mother's Day with Whole Foods delivery

Whole Foods Market and Instacart are partnering to make it more convenient to show Mom how much you love her this Mother’s Day.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR RECON 2015?

When the International Council of Shopping Centers opens the doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center on May 17 to retailers and shopping center attendees from around the globe, it will unveil a lineup of newly built, underway and redeveloped properties ripe for deal-making.

Leasing interest at RECon 2015 is expected to be high, this despite naysayers who have predicted the demise of the shopping mall. Not likely, say those in the know.
MOVING DIRT

Major shopping center openings in 2014 beg the question, “Are we back on track?”

Last year may be the first 365-day period since the Great Recession that there is enough new shopping center space to crow about.

Chain Store Age’s annual development survey — spanning 26 years — reported pretty spotty new-build efforts from 2009 to 2013, but in 2014 some significant projects opened.
Shareholder urges TravelCenters of America to sell real estate

New York - RDG Capital Fund Management, a shareholder of TravelCenters of America, has engaged in what it calls “constructive dialogue” with TravelCenters CEO Tom O'Brien and other board members. RDG said the TravelCenters board has indicated a willingness to consider selling some company-owned real estate as a source of liquidity.
HOT MARKETS, HOT GROWTH CONCEPTS

Restaurants and retail have fertile expansion ground in certain markets

While it’s true that technology, brick-and-mortar changes, and evolving consumer behavior are causing foundational shifts in the retail industry, a closer look at different U.S.
Study: Social posts from malls lack info

Chicago – Customers at malls are actively posting via social media, but leaving out information that could help mall-based retailers. According to a new study from location-based social media monitoring firm Geofeedia, 91% of mall-based social posts lack relevant hashtags and/or keywords, and 8% of posts only contain photos or videos.