Shopping Centers Anchored by Groceries Hold Drawing Power
from The Wall Street Journal
The $62.1 million sale of a clutch of Midwestern shopping centers has underscored one of the truisms of recession real estate: Grocery-anchored shopping centers hold up well compared with other property types. After all, people still need to eat. So while sales are way down at malls, luxury stores and apparel retailers, parking lots are still filling up at strip centers with grocery stores, and that's also benefiting the neighboring merchants. More

Efficient Lighting from GE Delivers $775,000 Annual Discount for Limited Brands
from BusinessWire via CNN Money
Limited Brands, Inc.has deployed energy-efficient lighting from GE Consumer & Industrial for a comprehensive lighting retrofit of five distribution centers at its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Within the 3.5 million square feet of impacted facilities, the company’s lighting energy consumption has been cut by 50 percent. Limited Brands expects annualized energy and maintenance cost savings of approximately $775,000. Specifically, Limited Brands is expected to achieve $650,000 in energy savings and $125,000 in maintenance savings annually. More

Advance Auto Parts Execs Drive Up Sales
from Barrons
Advance Auto Parts has surged as the economy has floundered. So if executives at the company are selling stock, could that actually be a good sign for the economy? A director and two top officers sold a total of about $6.6 million in stock, the second big batch of selling at the company this year. More

Sunglass Maker Costa Del Mar to Offset 100 Percent of Electricity Use
from Environmental Leader
Costa Del Mar has partnered with Renewable Choice Energy to offset 100 percent of the electricity use at its Daytona Beach headquarters facility with the purchase of 422,896 kilowatt hours of renewable energy credits from U.S. wind farms. The sunglass manufacturer and retailer also purchased carbon offsets to balance the carbon emissions associated with all of its employees’ business travel including air and ground transportation. The company says this will help to offset up to 1.1 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. More

Burlington Coat Factory’s Annual Sales Up
from The Business Review
Sales increased 4.4 percent at Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. in fiscal 2009 as it opened more stores, but comparable-store sales fell in the tough retail climate. The Burlington, N.J.-based company operates 433 stores, says net sales from continuing operations were $3.54 billion in the fiscal year that ended May 30, compared with $3.39 billion in the previous year, according to the company. Burlington opened 36 stores during the year. More

Proposed Vending Machines Standards Cut Energy Use By Up to 42 Percent
from Greener Buildings
Vending machines for soda and other beverages would sip energy rather than guzzle it under new standards proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The proposed rules set energy conservation standards and consumption thresholds for refrigerated vending machines that dispense bottled or canned drinks. The measures would cut energy use of glass- or polymer-front machines by as much as 42 percent compared to current energy consumption of such machines. More

Wal-Mart, Gap, Barnes & Noble Tops in Corporate Image
from MediaPost News
The Gap, Tiffany – despite its slide – and Saks were ranked highest among specialty retailers, in the same ranking as last year. Among discounters, Wal-Mart Stores again came in highest – with Bed, Bath & Beyond moving into second place, pushing Target Corp. down into the No. 3 spot. "Target is a great brand and great company," said Timothy Robinson, CoreBrand's managing director. "Little bounces are less important than consistency over time." Other highly ranked brands included Barnes & Noble, Lowe's, and the Home Depot. More

Slashing Prices a Risk for Retailers
from The Associated Press via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In a bid to pull hesitant shoppers into their stores, retailers are slashing prices on everything from jeans to dinnerware. But those fat discounts will likely come at a big cost to the companies. At teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters, shoppers who buy jeans get a second pair at half off. Jewelry chain Zale is offering an extra 20 percent off on a slew of items such as gold earrings that were already slashed up to 70 percent. Pottery Barn has discounts of up to 75 percent. More

Timberland Opens Eco-Friendly New York Store
from Inhabitat
The Timberland Company, known for its environmental stewardship and consistent ranking as one of America’s best companies to work for by Fortune and Working Mother Magazine, has just opened a new sustainable store in NYC. The sleek interior and ample use of reclaimed wood make for an inviting and earth-friendly shopping experience. More

Consumer Spending Falls as Americans Boost Savings
from Bloomberg
U.S. consumer spending fell for a second straight month as concern over rising unemployment and record wealth destruction prompted households to boost savings rates to the highest level in 14 years. The 0.1 percent drop in purchases in April was smaller than forecast and followed a 0.3 percent decrease in March that was larger than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed in Washington. The savings rate rose to 5.7 percent, spurred by an unexpected jump in incomes linked to the fiscal stimulus. More

Internet Sales Jog Ahead 10.7 Percent in Q1 for Foot Locker
from Internet Retailer
Web sales outpaced overall sales and comparable-store sales in the first quarter of 2009 at Foot Locker Inc. E-commerce sales increased by 10.7 percent from $75 million in Q1 2008 to $83 million in the first quarter of 2009, ended May 2, while overall sales declined about 7.1 percent to $1.21 billion from $1.31 billion in the previous year quarter, and comparable-store sales fell 2.1 percent. More

Shoppers Respond Differently to Store Media
from Convenience Store News
The way consumers respond to in-store promotional messages and media is changing, with traditional media not necessarily as effective as it once was, according to the results of a new poll that surveyed 999 shoppers shortly after completing a shopping trip. The effectiveness of promotional messages depends on the age and gender of the shopper, the message vehicle and whether or not the message is found inside the store or outside the store, the survey revealed. More