News

A San Diego strip center that underwent a repositioning and renovation over the past two years is welcoming six new tenants.   The Presidio, which sits below the 18th Century Presidio fortress in the Linda Vista community has transformed its retail lineup with the signings of Rip Curl, Luv Bridal, Hopsy, Babe Kombucha, West Coast Veterinary Hospital, and Sharetea.  

Dollar General Corp. has added to its portfolio through an acquisition.    The Federal Trade Commission has approved the sale of 323 Dollar Express stores by Sycamore Partners to Dollar General, reported Reuters. The Dollar Express chain is made up of former Family Dollar stores that Family Dollar sold to Sycamore Partners in late 2015. Sycamore Partners bought the stores in 2015 when Dollar Tree sold the stores in order to win antitrust approval to buy the Family Dollar chain.   

Samsung Pay is expanding its breadth.   Besides launching in Sweden and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the digital wallet also kicked off an early access program in Hong Kong and Switzerland. The launches in UAE and Sweden are Samsung Pay’s first introduction in the Middle East and the Nordics respectively, Samsung said.   Samsung Pay users in Sweden and the UAE can also integrate loyalty and membership cards within their mobile wallets.  

Starbucks Corp. met profit expectations for its second quarter even as its sales disappointed.     The retailer’s net earnings increased 13.5%, to $652.8 million, or 45 cents a share, in line with expectations. Revenue totaled $5.28 billion, less than expected.   Same-store sales rose 3%, also below forecasts, as average tickets rose 4%. Customer transactions were down 2%, which the company attributed to a change in its rewards program.  

Amazon on Thursday posted its eight straight quarter of net profitability, fueled by growth in e-commerce sales and its lucrative cloud service platform, Amazon Web Services.   Amazon easily topped earning expectations for its first quarter, ended March 31, reporting $1.48 per share, above the $1.12 Wall Street expected. Net income rose to $724 million from $513 million in the year-ago period.  

A Chicago-based fund manager has acquired BeachWalk on Highway 101 in Solana Beach, California, for $33.25 million.   "True coastal retail projects like BeachWalk seldom come to market,” said John Read of CBRE’s National Retail Partners West unit, which represented the seller, the Orange County-based Muller Company. Solana Beach is north of San Diego.  

Target Corp. is extending its progress to renewable energy and making progress on its goal to have 500 buildings with rooftop solar panels by 2020.   

Apple may be the next company to provide a money-transfer service.   Sources said Apple has recently held discussions with payments industry partners about introducing a program that would allow iPhone owners to send money to each other digitally, according to ReCode.   If Apple’s plan pans out, its service will rival offerings from big U.S. banks, as well as PayPal, its millennial-popular subsidiary Venmo, and Square Cash, the report said.  

Tractor Supply Company reported declines in first quarter comp-store sales and net income as mild weather reduced sales of winter products.    "Due to the challenging weather conditions, we were unable to offset the strong seasonal performance from last year's first quarter," said CEO Greg Sandfort. "As the weather has normalized over the past few weeks, we are encouraged with how the customer has responded and believe there is significant spring business ahead of us."  

E-commerce driven Bonobos continues to expand its physical presence.   The upscale menswear retailer added three new stores (which it calls “guideshops”), with locations at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles; the Summit in Lexington, Ky.; and Chicago’s Southport neighborhood, reported wwd.com. Another outpost is due to in Denver next week.