St. Louis — Construction is complete for the new $2 million HopCat restaurant and craft beer bar in the Delmar Loop in St. Louis, with Knoebel Construction serving as the general contractor. The new 8,580-square-foot location features seating for 245 guests, draft bar, an outdoor beer garden that seats 100 guests and event space. The developer was BarFly Ventures and the architect was Cuhaci & Peterson.
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New York City — BIRKENSTOCK has opened its first company-owned retail store in the United States. The store is located in the historic SoHo neighborhood of lower Manhattan. Celebrating over 50 years of distribution in the U.S., the SoHo store gives the German brand a new home in the heart of New York, laying the groundwork for the continued growth of BIRKENSTOCK in the U.S. market.
Miami, Fla. — Focusing on the Miami River and breathtaking views of downtown Miami and the sunset, River Landing has unveiled plans for a ‘restaurant row’ along the river. The 25,500-square-foot restaurant space on the ground floor can be divided into seven concept restaurants, including fine dining, fast-casual, café or bistro, and family-style dining. Restaurant Row will reinforce the Miami River’s identity as an experiential dining destination. The river is currently home to some of Miami’s most popular restaurants.
Plano, Texas — Jeffrey Davis has informed J. C. Penney Company, Inc. that he is resigning from his position as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective October 1, to join Qurate Retail Group. Jerry Murray, senior vice president of finance, will assume the position of interim chief financial officer, reporting directly to the Office of the CEO.
Denver — Perfumania Holdings, Inc., a leading retailer and destination for designer fragrances, has launched a new concept store. Located inside the newly constructed Denver Premium Outlets in Thornton, Colo., the 900-square-foot space is designed to engage, educate and inspire today’s consumers. The interactive store will offer expanded product offerings and will provide a vision for the brand’s future retail expansion.
Saint Louis Park, Minn. — To demonstrate the effectiveness of its loss prevention and labor efficiency solution in Taco Bell franchises, Delaget analyzed key operational metrics of high-adoption users of the software as compared to Taco Bell franchisees not using the software. The results indicate a significant improvement in key metrics tied to loss, as well as substantial soft-cost savings.
Oklahoma City and Atlanta — On September 25, 2018, Sonic Corp. and Inspire Brands, Inc. entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Inspire will acquire Sonic for $43.50 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $2.3 billion including the assumption of Sonic’s net debt.
Davie, Fla. — Energy Control Consultants, Inc., a leading provider of building management systems to the retail industry, has joined ServiceChannel’s solution partner ecosystem to provide building control system integration and monitoring services. The collaboration and technical integration with ServiceChannel, the leading facilities management platform, simplifies and automates the identification of energy wasting activity and equipment-related problems, thereby reducing energy spend, eliminating unnecessary service calls and improving customer comfort and satisfaction.