News Briefs

Mattress Warehouse is expanding its footprint through acquisition.

The independently-owned mattress retailer has acquired 176 store locations from Tempur Sealy, pushing the company past 500 locations in 17 states and Washington D.C. The deal includes 73 former Mattress Firm stores, 103 Sleep Outfitters stores, seven distribution centers and corporate offices in Lexington, Ky. Tempur sold the stores in order to gain regulatory approval for its acquisition of Mattress Firm, which was approved in early February of this year.

The expansion of stores strengthens Mattress Warehouse’s presence across the United States, spanning from New Hampshire to southern Florida and expanding westward to Chicago and Milwaukee.

[READ MORE: CEO of Mattress Firm steps down; interim chief named]

“This is a transformative moment in our growth story," said Bill Papettas, president and CEO of Mattress Warehouse. “We are excited to welcome these new stores – and the talented teams behind them – into the Mattress Warehouse family. This acquisition furthers our mission to improve lives through quality sleep. With an even larger footprint, we’re able to bring our unmatched selection of top mattress brands, exclusive BedMATCH technology, and award-winning customer service to more communities than ever before.”

Founded in 1989, Mattress Warehouse offers customers a large selection of leading mattress brands, adjustable bases, pillows and other sleep accessories. Following the acquisition, the company is now the largest independently-owned mattress retailer in the U.S.

Costco Wholesale Corp. reported another month of sales increases even as its results suffered from a calendar shift.

Sales at Costco rose 7% year over year in April to $21.18, slowing from a 8.3% increase in March. The warehouse club retailer noted that the month had one less shopping day versus last year, due to the calendar shift of Easter, which negatively impacted total and comparable sales by approximately one and one-half to two percent.

Total company comparable sales rose 4.4%, slowing from a 6.4% increase in March. Comp sales increased 5.2% in the United States and 1.5% in Canada. International comps rose 3.2%.   

Total company comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange increased 6.7%, rising 7.1% in the U.S. and 5% in Canada. International comps increased 6.5%

E-commerce comparable sales rose 12.6%, and are up 16.3% for the 35 weeks ended May 4.

[READ MORE: Costco reports strong March sales as e-commerce surges]

Costco currently operates 905 warehouses, including 624 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 109 in Canada, 41 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 19 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.

Whitestone REIT has acquired its fifth neighborhood center in Austin’s most affluent submarket, close by the headquarters of Apple, Tesla, and other tech companies along Loop 360, one of the city’s most highly-trafficked motor routes.

The 32,000-sq.-ft., restaurant-anchored San Clemente at Davenport center will join Whitestone’s Davenport Village development in serving residents in Davenport Beach, Westlake, Rob Roy, and Barton Creek, where household incomes average $280,000.

“This center has all of the dynamics we look for, including strong surrounding schools, a community with a robust job market and upwardly mobile families,” said Christine Mastandrea. Whitestone’s president and COO.

The center tenant mix includes Fresa’s, a local Mexican favorite with a welcoming atmosphere and outdoor patio that anchors the property, Iron Fitness, a state-of-the-art training and fitness facility, and Greenlake Energy, an emerging energy technology company.

The Houston-based Whitestone owns, operates, and develops more than 40 neighborhood centers in fast-growing markets such as Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio.

A specialty fitness shoe retailer is enabling store employees to provide customers a connected in-store experience.

Road Runner Sports is deploying the Aptos One mobile POS platform across its more than 50 stores in the U.S. The retailer will seamlessly integrate Aptos One with its existing SaaS-based Aptos merchandising, order management, CRM and sales audit solutions.

"With Aptos One, our associates will have everything they need to serve shoppers – whether that’s mobile checkout, looking up real-time inventory and placing an order for an item not at that store, accessing customer profile and loyalty information, processing returns, checking order status and much more – all on a single device," said Tom Compogiannis, CFO at Road Runner Sports.

Road Runner Sports also intends to leverage Aptos One to support the operation of pop-up shops at events, expos and other gatherings.

[READ MORE: Road Runner Sports upgrades in-store fitting experience]

"We’re proud to be on the Aptos One journey with Road Runner Sports – a true leader in footwear retailing innovation," said Aptos GM Jeremy Grunzweig. "We will be there every step of the way as Road Runner Sports explores the benefits of Aptos ONE to drive business growth, customer loyalty and associate satisfaction."

A family-owned and operated company for 40 years, Road Runner Sports is headquartered in San Diego, with more than 50 retail stores across California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and Ohio.

A leading digital wallet has added a new restaurant to its list of payment partners.

Cash App has announced its new partnership with Domino’s Pizza, giving customers payment flexibility when ordering food. This launch marks the first nationwide pizza restaurant chain to be available with Cash App Pay.

When checking out on the Domino’s app, consumers can now select Cash App Pay as their preferred payment method. Cash App users can get access to all available merchants on the app.

“We’re all about providing convenience to customers, and that includes making sure their checkout experience is seamless,” said Mark Messing, Domino’s VP of global digital marketing. “We are excited to give them another easy and convenient way to pay for their order.”

[READ MORE: Domino’s delivers – with help from DoorDash]

Cash App says the new partnership allows Domino’s to connect with Cash App’s young and growing user base, building long-term loyalty. According to data from the National Restaurant Association, 79% of Gen Z and 85% of millennials use mobile apps for fast-food orders.

“We are thrilled to partner with Domino’s as this marks our first-ever pizza restaurant partner for Cash App Pay,” said Alex Fisher, head of revenue, North America, Cash App Commerce. “Through this integration we are able to help them unlock incremental value with next generation consumers who we know are looking for convenience and flexibility at checkout.”

Founded in 1960, Domino’s operates more than 21,300 stores in over 90 markets. Last year, Domino’s generated more than 85% of U.S. retail sales via digital channels.