Baton Rouge bound: Indianapolis-based appliance and electronics leader h.h.gregg announced this morning that it will open a store in the Mall of Louisiana at an undetermined date this fall. The retailer says it is beginning to take applications online to fill 60 jobs at the Baton Rouge store, its first in the city and third in the state. Learn more at the store’s website here. h.h.gregg operates 223 stores in 20 states.
Double down: EPL Oil & Gas Inc., a New Orleans-based independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company, is buying some shallow-water Gulf of Mexico assets from Hilcorp Energy GOM Holdings LLC for $550 million. The properties in the deal include three fields that Houston-based Hilcorp had acquired from Chevron Corp. on the Central Gulf of Mexico shelf in the vicinity of EPL’s existing core field areas. EPL President and CEO Gary Hanna says the buyout nearly doubles the company’s proved reserves to about 74 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Off the hook: Apple reports initial iPhone 5 preorders topped 2 million in 24 hours—more than double the amount of preorders it had for the iPhone 4S. The company says because demand exceeds initial supply, some preorders will be delivered in October, although most will be delivered Friday. Also this morning, AT&T reports having set a sales record for the iPhone 5, with customers ordering more of them than any previous iPhone model on the first day of preorders and over the weekend. The Associated Press has the full story here.
