STORE SPACES

New York -- Uniqlo will open a location in Westfield Garden State Plaza shopping center, Paramus, N.J., on Sept. 28. The new store will occupy a 43,000-sq.-ft. space with two levels, and feature a separate dedicated entrance and a prominent façade. It will serve as the prototype for Uniqlo’s mall expansion strategy.

Leading up to the opening, beginning Aug. 27 and continuing through Sept. 27, Uniqlo will operate a temporary store at the mall. The pop-up, designed to resemble a futuristic cube, will be located at the food court.

Parsippany, N.J. -- Kings Food Markets announced that the company has expanded into Connecticut with the acquisition of a Porricelli's Market location in Old Greenwich. 

Kings, with 24 stores in New Jersey and New York, recently completed a brand relaunch that included grand reopenings of its Bedminster and Livingston, N.J., stores, with additional reopenings slated to take place throughout 2012 and 2013.
 

Dallas -- Bennigan's Franchising Co. and Brixmor Property Group announced a strategic partnership to add Bennigan's restaurants nationwide into Brixmor's portfolio of shopping centers.

The partnership will include positioning Bennigan's signs at select existing buildings and pad site locations within the Brixmor portfolio of shopping centers, promoting pre-approved restaurant space and franchise opportunities within the company's targeted growth markets.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us opened its first stores in Beijing last weekend, marking its continued expansion across China.

Columbus, Ohio -- Express said Friday that one of its subsidiaries has entered into a franchise agreement with Fastco Commercial S.A., a retail franchise operator, to open more than 30 Express stores over a five-year period in Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings said Friday it has again been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings.

For the third consecutive year, Sears will participate in the competition, this year entering 56 facilities that will compete against thousands of other teams representing buildings across the country. All efforts will be focused on eliminating waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's Energy Star program.

New York -- The Pantry is giving its stores a makeover. The chain will remodel 10% of its store portfolio, or approximately 160 locations annual, until it completes the job, said Pantry president and CEO Dennis Hatchell on the company’s third-quarter sales call.

The remodeling program will be store specific, according to Hatchell. He said the chain now has the scan data to execute a customized store set, and that it has a series of distinct demographic types.

San Diego -- EcoATM, a start-up known for its innovative kiosks that fully automates the buy-back of used mobile phones and other portable electronics, has made its first major expansion outside of California by installing 28 kiosks in malls throughout Texas. The automated kiosks, which are typically located in malls and grocery stores, allow people to exchange their used or broken electronics, ranging from iPhones to MP3 players, for cash.