AMC Entertainment Holdings: The world’s largest theater chain is banking on the connection between movie theaters and popcorn to expand into a new segment. The company plans to operate as many as 15 popcorn stores by the end of 2022. It also expects to partner with home-food delivery services for its popcorn. “The announcement that AMC will become a competitor in the multibillion popcorn market is so natural and logical, one wonders why the idea has not been tried before,” said chairman and CEO Adam Aron.

Bluebird Bio: The biotech firm, which develops cancer and genetic treatments in its laboratories, signed a long-term lease to build a 61,000-square-foot biotech hub at Federal’s mixed-use Assembly Row in Somerville, Massachusetts. The facility will open in the spring and will include a fitness center and day care.

Dillard’s: The company’s department store sales are exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Same-store sales jumped 48% year over year in the third quarter and 12% compared with the third quarter of 2019. A return to out-of-home activity is driving consumers to update their wardrobes, the retailer said. Compared with the third quarter of 2019, sales of accessories and juniors, children’s and men’s apparel significantly outperformed other categories.

Kanuk: The Montreal-based outerwear brand opened its inaugural U.S. store in New York City’s SoHo. The 4,000-square-foot store is the luxury retailer’s first standalone boutique outside Canada.

Panera Brands: The fast-casual restaurant operator plans to go public with financial support from Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer. The company owns Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. Bagels.

Ralph Lauren: The retailer plans to open 90 stores this year. Its second-quarter net revenue rose 26% year over year to $1.5 billion, North American consumers fueling much of the activity. The company wants to sell more through its own stores rather than through third parties, executives said.

Roll’d: The Australia-headquartered Vietnamese fast-casual restaurant will open its first U.S. unit, in Salt Lake City, next year. The chain, which operates 100 units in Australia, also is growing in Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand and the U.K.

Selfridges: The U.K. department store chain is considering spinning its e-commerce operation into a separate company from its physical stores. The move would be similar to Canadian department store conglomerate HBC’s financial separation of its online and in-store operations.

Susan Alexandra: The fashion label, designed by Susan Korn and known for its beaded bags, opened its first physical store, on New York City’s Lower East Side.

Walmart: The retail behemoth continues to build supersized distribution centers to compete in timely delivery. Now, the company aims to build two high-tech distribution centers to serve omnichannel customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In Lancaster, Texas, Walmart plans to open a 1.5 million-square-foot automated fulfillment center slated in 2023 and a 730,000-square-foot automated grocery distribution center in 2024. The facilities would double the productivity of a traditional distribution center, , according to Walmart, improving on accuracy, quality and speed. Last month, Walmart had said it would build its largest high-tech food distribution center to date, in Lyman, South Carolina, by 2024. And over the summer, Walmart announced plans to automate 25 of its 42 regional distribution centers with robotics and other automation technology.