STORE SPACES

Bridgeview, Ill. -- Rose Paving Co., which provides complete parking-lot management solutions nationwide, has been named a Chicago Tribune Top Workplace for 2010 in the small-sized company category. One hundred companies, organizations, and agencies were honored at an awards ceremony on Nov. 9 hosted by the Chicago Tribune.

The awards, given for measured qualities including company leadership, career opportunities, workplace flexibility, and compensation & benefits were presented to Chicago-area companies for the very first time.

New York City - The Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) announced that its Retail Design Collective will be held Dec. 8-10, at 7 W New York, 7 W. 34th St. and at other major showrooms throughout New York City.

Conference sessions focus on visual merchandising and store design trends, and will feature retailers such as Harry Cunningham of Saks Fifth Avenue, Brad Lenz of Liz Claiborne, Diana Bernal of Van Cleef  Arpels Inc., Paul Olszewski of Macy's, Tom Davidson of The Food Emporium, and Lauren Shaw of Louis Vuitton North America.

Santa Barbara, Calif. - SuperValu Inc., which owns Albertson’s, said Tuesday that two Albertson’s locations in Santa Barbara, Calif., have achieved zero waste classification in their daily operations.

New York - Macy’s has debuted a new environment for one of its signature businesses—women’s shoes—at its store in Oak Brook, Ill. The plan is for elements of the updated format to be implemented in additional locations going forward.

The revamp, designed by Charles Sparks + Company, Westchester, Ill., has a clean, modern look. It features “runway” fixtures, sweeping lines and monolithic linear shelving concepts. A semi-transparent screen-like segmentation of spaces allows trend statements to flow easily within the overall plan.

New York - Nordstrom is putting its foot in the bridal business, opening an in-store bridal boutique called the Wedding Suite at its Chicago flagship on North Michigan Avenue, according to the Chicago Tribune. The department store retailer is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for wedding parties, and will unveiling 14 bridal salons at stores nationwide over the next six weeks, the report said.

New York City -- Verizon Wireless has joined the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program. Seventy-five Verizon Wireless Communications Stores have already earned the Energy Star designation for superior energy performance.

Under the partnership, Verizon Wireless pledges to measure and track energy performance at hundreds of its stores, switching centers, cell sites and other facilities throughout the United States.

San Francisco — Gap has joined the growing ranks of retailers opening holiday pop-ups. The chain has teamed with the New York City hipster publication Cool Hunting to open a temporary store at Gap's 5th Avenue and 54th Street gallery space. It will be open through Jan. 2, 2011, and feature more than 100 products hand-selected by Cool Hunting's editors.

Miami -- Retailers are continuing to invest in sustainability initiatives, even during tough economic times, according to a new report by RSR Research entitled "Lean and Green: Sustainable Practices Are Changing Retail, Benchmark 2010.”