 Coca-Cola is doubling down on the success of its "Freestyle" soda machines with a next-generation dispenser that can be controlled via an app.
The Coca-ColaFreestyle 9100, which will be available nationally in 2019, features a 24-inch, high-definition touchscreen and Bluetooth connectivity, according to the company's website. A "Freestyle mobile app" lets Coke drinkers use their phones to cue up their favorite beverage or create a new mix on the machine.
“We've built features into this dispenser…
   
Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - 07:40 |
 A question on the minds of many business owners and operators is when the United States' near record economic expansion will end.
 
Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - 07:40 |
 The Memphis City Council has temporarily filled the position vacated by former council member Philip Spinosa Jr. with a family funeral director and high school golf coach.
J. Ford Canale is a licensed funeral director and insurance producer at Canale Funeral Directors and head golf coach at Christian Brothers High School.
Canale received the majority of council votes to temporarily fill the Super District 9, Position 2 seat until the election in August.
"I'd like to thank all of the council…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 17:24 |
 Plans include open-air dining pavilions made of deconstructed shipping containers and elevated tree houses reminiscent of bird nests.
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 14:35 |
 The hotel portion of the city's ambitious Central Station mixed-use project closed on its financing in December and is preparing to open in about one year.
The old train station building is set to hold 124 rooms, a 3,500-square-foot restaurant, a 6,700-square-foot ballroom and 8,000 square feet of non-restaurant retail space — along with the Amtrak station. Next door, an under-construction, seven-screen Malco movie theater is set to include balcony seating and electric recliners; a restaurant…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 14:26 |
 The sale is evidence of the city's hot industrial market.
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 13:53 |
 “This is a marathon and not a sprint.”
That is how Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO of AutoZone Inc., concludes most of the auto parts retailer’s earnings calls.
Today was no different.
For the third quarter 2018, AutoZone reported net sales of nearly $2.7 billion, which represented a 1.6 percent increase year-over-year from Q3 2017. Domestic same store sales rose 0.6 percent for the quarter.
While Rhodes admitted that a cold, wet spring had a negative impact on sales, those figures…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 13:47 |
 The City of Memphis now has approval from the state to begin spending Downtown Tourism Development Zone dollars on a Mud Island aquarium museum and riverfront museum.
The Tennessee State Building Commission approved Tuesday, May 22, the city's request to amend the Downtown Tourism Development Zone (TDZ) to include the riverfront and Mud Island as Qualified Public Use Facilities.
"Today's authority gives us the ability to spend revenues that come through the TDZ on those two projects," said city…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 13:29 |
 An art installation designed by Parisian architectural firm Atelier YokYok will make its U.S. debut in June in a vacant lot in Memphis.
The Memphis Medical District Collaboration (MMDC), in collaboration with ALSAC, the fundraising organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and other neighborhood partners are bringing "Treedom" to life.
"Treedom Memphis" will be installed on A.W. Willis Avenue between Second and Third Streets. It will be open for public viewing from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 13:13 |
 Best Buy Co. Inc. is rolling out a subscription service for its Best Buy tech support unit, betting that the growing complexity of smart homes and connected devices will create demand for offerings that go beyond the one-off repair job.
The Star Tribune has a report on the new service, called Total Tech Support, that Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy is introducing nationwide this week after testing the idea in Canada and a few dozen U.S. stores over since last fall.
The service, which runs $200…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 11:48 |
 Marvin Ellison, the current chairman and CEO of J.C. Penney Co. Inc., will be the new president and CEO of Lowe’s Cos. Inc.
He replaces Robert Niblock, who’s leaving Lowe’s after activist board members were named to the company’s directors. Niblock announced in late March he’s retiring. Ellison will take the helm July 2.
Ellison is a native of Brownsville and a University of Memphis alumnus. He serves as a member of the board of trustees for the University of Memphis and the board of…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 11:15 |
 A Memphis-based developer, owner and manager of collegiate housing just had a ceremonial groundbreaking for a future Pennsylvania project.
Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, partnered with EdR to build the SouthSide Commons. The 428-bed complex will feature studio apartments as well as two-, three- and four-bedroom options. Construction started this spring, and the housing development is slated to open in summer 2019.
To see renderings of the building, click the slideshow.
The facility…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 11:10 |
 The midwives of a Memphis health clinic were recently featured on PBS.
PBS' May 20 installment of its series, "Chasing the Dream: Poverty & Opportunity in America," featured group prenatal care offered by Choices-Memphis Center for Reproductive Health. The nonprofit has delivered 11 babies in the past year, with 19 more on the way.
Choices launched a capital campaign, and construction is underway for a new, $4 million midwifery facility, located at 1203 Poplar Ave. A building permit valued at $3.6…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 08:15 |
 Kroger Co. isn’t taking the heightened competition in the supermarket business from Amazon.com, Walmart and others lying down.
Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen emphasized Kroger’s recent moves in his latest letter to the company’s shareholders, saying Kroger, the nation’s largest operator of traditional supermarkets, is running “several aggressive plays that we haven’t run before.”
McMullen was highlighting the initiatives in the company’s Restock Kroger plan launched last fall to improve…
 
Tuesday, May 22, 2018 - 07:47 |
 At MBJ’s “Race Ahead” event April 23, a wide range of company owners, executives and decision-makers from all backgrounds, industry sectors and sizes came together to contend with the huge topics related to diversity and business.
“We’ve got some issues to work out. We broke it, we need to be part of fixing it,” Bob Wilson, CEO and managing partner of H. Saga/Port Alliance, said about the approach white business leaders should play in improving opportunities for diverse individuals and…
 
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 16:41 |
 At MBJ’s April 23 event “Race Ahead,” each attendee embodied a unique combination of characteristics, from race, age, ethnicity and religious beliefs to occupation, industry and company seniority.
But, all convened for the same reason: to hold a meaningfully unvarnished dialogue on diversity and business, with a mind to identify and share practical solutions to entrenched problems — the opposite of shying away from it.
It calls to mind “I Am a Man”: An individual asserting himself,…
 
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 14:52 |
 Within the next four years, Total Fitness Kickboxing’s founders hope to go from 11 locations open or almost open to 100 locations across the country.
 
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 14:46 |
 As the country learns more details about the latest school shooting, this one in Texas, a local district is about to begin construction on an updated elementary school entrance.
Last week, the Lakeland School System filed a $3 million building permit to create a more secure entrance to its elementary school.
"It's something we've been concerned about since we took over the school in 2014," said Lakeland superintendent Ted Horrell.
Lakeland Elementary School was built in 2001 to accommodate the…
 
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 14:26 |
 Bank of America Corp. is rolling out its virtual financial assistant Erica to all of its 25 million mobile customers over the next few weeks.
Erica is artificial intelligence-driven, and helps Bank of America app users access balance information, transfer money between accounts, send money with Zelle and schedule meetings at financial centers. Customers can interact with Erica via voice commands, texting or touch.
“Everything we do is based on what we hear from our clients: how they want to interact…
 
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 13:02 |
 Purchases are no longer necessary to use Starbucks' bathrooms.
That's the latest announcement from the Seattle-based coffee giant in the wake of the arrests of two black men at a Philadelphia location and the national backlash that followed.
Starbucks leaders said its previous policies were "loose and ambiguous," according to an Associated Press report. They gave too much discretion to local store managers, including the former employee at the Philadelphia store who called 911 when Rashon Nelson…
 
Monday, May 21, 2018 - 12:57 |
