STORE SPACES

Aliso Viejo, Calif. -- Johnny Rockets recently signed the largest development deal in the brand's history, with a plan to open 100 restaurants in China, with the first scheduled to open in 2016.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- C.B. Kuzlik, a 20-year veteran of the paving industry, has founded Let’s Pave, which is focused on buyers of commercial and industrial pavement services and solutions nationwide. The company is different from other national service providers, according to Kuzlik, in that it treats paving services and pavement management as separate specialties — offering one or the other, but never both to the same client.  

Stoughton, Mass. -- Ikea has gone live with the expanded solar energy array atop its store that opened nine years ago in Stoughton, Massachusetts. The 51,516-sq.-ft. solar panel addition consists of a 318-kW system built with 1,248 panels, and will produce 385,900 kWh more of electricity annually for the store. It sits atop a 58,575-sq.-ft. store extension completed last summer.

Grand Rapids. Mich. - Meijer will invest nearly $50 million in extensive remodel projects for four supercenters located in Kettering, Miami Township, Englewood and Beavercreek, Ohio.  

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Online fashion fave Nasty Gal has opened its second brick-and-mortar location, on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California. At 6,500 sq. ft., the new store is nearly triple the size of the retailer’s first location, on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles, and is filled with neon accents and kitschy-but-hip accents.

Brick-and-mortar stores are in transition from being viewed as a relic of the 20th century to being understood as the linchpin of 21st century omnichannel retailing. In the SPECS session “Reinventing Brick & Mortar Retail,” speaker Nadia Shouraboura, founder and CEO, Hointer Inc., explained just how wide-ranging that transition will be.

“The next 10 years will see more profound change in store design that we’ve seen in the last 1,000 years,” said Shouraboura.

New York -- From extreme-value discounters to c-store operators, retailers across the board are expanding their brick-and-mortar portfolios in 2015. Here’s a review:

• Dollar General will open 730 new stores and remodel 875 existing locations.

• DSW Inc. will open 35 stores, including locations in at least 12 new markets.

• Express is ramping up its new outlet format with 30 locations.

Princeton, N.J. -- This year 2015 is shaping up to be another great year for rebates and incentives in North America, particularly when it comes to controls, according to a report BriteSwitch, which helps large national take advantage of rebate programs. Currently, 72% of the country is covered by an active commercial lighting rebate program.

Middletown, Conn. -- Target Corp. is expanding its deployment of solar energy. The retailer has signed a power-purchase agreement with Greenskies Renewable Energy LLC that calls for supplier to install solar arrays on the roofs of 180 Target stores and distribution centers across the United States from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego.

New York -- Joseph Abboud has opened a flagship, the first under the umbrella of Men's Wearhouse, on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Men’s Wearhouse acquired the Abboud brand in 2013.

The 4,300-sq.-ft. location was designed and styled collaboratively by Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates and Joseph Abboud, and is reminiscent of London's Savile Row.