REAL ESTATE

Rogers, Ark. -- In its annual meeting with analysts on Wednesday, Wal-Mart Stores U.S. president Bill Simon said the retailer would accelerate small-store growth to compete with dollar stores and drug stores, and announced plans to have 500 Neighborhood Market stores and 12 Express stores by fiscal 2016.

“This gives us the opportunity to build more stores for less money," Simon said. Wal-Mart currently operates 217 Neighborhood Markets and 10 Express stores.

Commerce, Calif. -- Discounter 99 Cents Only said Tuesday it has launched an official search for a retail property on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., to open its first store on the iconic street.

"We are confident a Rodeo Drive store will be successful because our stores do well in affluent areas,” said Eric Schiffer, CEO. “In fact, our highest sales volume store is located only a few blocks from Beverly Hills on Wilshire Boulevard.”

Of its 303 extreme-value stores in the U.S., 222 are in California.

San Antonio, Texas -- Steak n Shake said Tuesday it has signed its first international development agreement, which will bring the concept to the Middle East.

Steak n Shake has signed an exclusive area development agreement with the Saleh Bin Lahej Group to open 40 restaurants throughout the United Arab Emirates. This agreement represents the initial expansion of the brand outside the continental United States.

New York -- Garrison Investment Group said Tuesday it has acquired a 13-property portfolio totaling 1.7 million sq. ft. of neighborhood and community shopping centers in Ohio and Indiana. The seller is Kimco Realty Corp.

The 13 properties feature retailers such as T.J. Maxx, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot.

Garrison engaged Cincinnati-based Select Strategies Realty manage and lease the properties.

Seattle -- Nordstrom Inc. said Tuesday that it has opened a second Cleveland Nordstrom Rack store – at the Promenade in Crocker Park, owned and managed by Stark Enterprises.

The 34,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open fall 2013 in a former Border’s space at the lifestyle shopping center located in Westlake, Ohio, and tenanted by Bed Bath & Beyond, H&M, Trader Joe’s, Victoria’s Secret and The Cheesecake Factory.

Brooklyn, N.Y. -- West Elm, a division of Williams-Sonoma, announced that it will open a store at 180 University Avenue in Palo Alto, Calif., on Oct. 18.

The new Palo Alto store will include a collection of decorative accessories and art made by Etsy artists from the South Bay. It will be only the second West Elm store selling goods made by Etsy artists in the U.S.

Columbus, Ohio -- Domino’s Pizza’s new “Pizza Theater” store design, developed in partnership with strategic branding and design firm Chute Gerdeman, brings the art and skill of pizza-making front and center.

New York -- Hennes & Mauritz AB has cut a deal to open in Manhattan’s Times Square, the New York Post reported.

According to the report, H&M will move into the three-floor, 42,510-sq.-ft. space at 4 Times Square that was previously occupied by the restaurant ESPN Zone. The space, which has been vacant for some two years, includes two huge billboards that wrap above the store’s facade along Broadway and West 42nd Street.