News

Boise, Idaho - WinCo Foods LLC will begin shipping from its newest distribution center in Phoenix, on May 14. The center, which includes more than 900,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, will initially service 19 WinCo Foods stores located in Arizona, Southern Nevada and Southern California.  

New York -- Online streaming video service Hulu will display interactive ads from Pizza Hut that will allow viewers to place orders on their computers or other devices right in the middle of the commercial.

Consumers will be able to place an order for pickup or delivery during the commercial, and then resume watching wherever they left off, according to the Washington Post. The ads will be shown on all platforms: desktop, mobile and internet-connected TV.

The Pizza Hut ads will debut this summer.

Easter may be over but Nickelodeon and Nordstrom are hoping rabbit inspired merchandise continues to resonate with shoppers this spring.

In an era of Big Data, retailers are finding new ways to leverage that information to improve processes and consumer engagement. However, there’s one area where Big Data can have a big impact that companies in the retail space may be missing: real estate.

Mark Ledbetter, global VP retail strategy for SAP, recently spoke with Chain Store Age about the promise of Big Data for retail real estate, and how retailers can best take advantage of it.

Where does retail real estate data originate?

The timing of the Easter holiday this year adversely affected first-quarter sales at Publix by 1.3% — Easter fell in the second quarter this year, rather than the first quarter as if did last year — but the company still posted a 4.1% increase to $7.8 billion from last year’s $7.5 billion.

Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 4%.

Sydney, Australia - Quick Service Restaurant Holdings (QSRH) has selected Micros Simphony for its three Australian brands, Red Rooster, Oporto, and Chicken Treat. The cloud-based Micros Simphony Enterprise solution, to be self-hosted and systematically implemented across 550-plus stores, will include point of sale, labor and the Micros Kitchen Display System (KDS).

New retail space in 2013 was once again heavy on redevelopment, expansion and outlet centers

Year five and, once again, too few square feet in ground-up shopping center construction to rank the “Fastest-Growing Developers” as has been the Chain Store Age tradition for the 20 years prior.

Today, developers seem fated to redevelop and expand existing centers, develop 300,000-sq.-ft. to 600,000-sq.-ft. outlet centers and perhaps add an occasional grocery-anchored infill center.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said he was reluctant to hit send on an email inviting CEOs from top global companies to attend the retailer’s Sustainable Product Expo because he knows how busy everyone is. However, when an email from the top executive from the world’s largest company offers an opportunity to “be part of what’s next,” it’s not surprising so many CEOs found time to visit Northwest Arkansas this week.