Stop & Shop Opens LEED Grocery Store in Massachusetts … and More Industry News

MANAGEMENT CHANGES

Berkeley, Calif.-based ICU Eyewear Inc. appointed Rich Conti ceo and a member of its board of directors.

Best Buy Co. Inc. (Richfield, Minn.), named Sharon McCollam chief administrative and chief financial officer effective December 10. McCollam is a retired director, executive vp, chief operating and chief financial officer of Williams-Sonoma Inc. In her new role, she will be involved in all aspects of Best Buy's operations and transformation strategy.

STORE OPENINGS
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. (Quincy, Mass.) has opened a new 45,000 square-foot, LEED-certified store in Wayland, Mass. The grocery chain operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York and New Jersey.

BUSINESS BRIEFS
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Montalba Architects Inc. is working on three new retail projects. The firm is designing a new retail interior for stylehaüs boutique at The Grove lifestyle center near Los Angeles’ Farmers Market and collaborating on the design of the first West Coast location for Isabel Marant, which will be a stand-alone boutique on Melrose Place designed with Franklin Azzi Architecture (FAA). The firm is also working with Landmark Architecture on Barbara Bui’s second Southern California location at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza. All three fast-track projects are expected to open in late 2012.

Alu Inc. has moved its showroom from Chelsea to New York’s SoHo neighborhood on Greene Street.

The A.R.E. Design Awards, which recognize excellence in retail design, is now accepting entries for its annual competition. Retailers, designers, architects and suppliers of projects installed in operating retail environments between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2012, are invited to enter. The early bird deadline is Dec. 17 and the final deadline is Jan. 15, 2013. For more information, visit www.aredesignawards.com/enter.cfm.

Lightfair International, which returns to Philadelphia April 23-25, 2013, is introducing a new Exterior & Roadway Lighting Pavilion at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For more information, visit www.lightfair.com.

Quebec-based HotFudge fashion accessories retailer and commercial designer Frédéric Bernier earned a silver award in the retail store design category at Toronto’s ICSC Awards 2012 held in October. The store design features a metallic glass storefront, an oversized multi-colored logo and a tunnel entrance with moving-LEDs.

Swedish lighting company Wennerström Ljuskontroll, which has acted as Tridonic’s (Dornbirn, Austria) sales partner in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States for many years, has opened a new Wennerström office in Stockholm.