Skip to main content

Consumer Affairs & Relations

  • Macy’s unloads five stores

    Macy’s Inc. is living up to its promise to downsize.   The department store giant announced it has sold five stores to General Growth Properties for $46 million. All but four of the locations will be closed by spring 2017.    

  • Report: Aeropostale has potential to become a 500-store chain—again

    A big mall developer thinks Aerospostale still has plenty of life left in it.   Simon Property Group, along with General Growth Properties and several other companies, bought the failing chain out of bankruptcy in September.  Speaking to a group of investors last week,  CEO David Simon expressed confidence in Aeropostale’s ability to regain momentum.  

  • Amazon Prime makes it way to China

    Amazon is looking to give Alibaba and JD.com a run for the money on their home turf.   The online giant is making its Amazon Prime subscription service available in China, a country where it has struggled to gain market share.     

  • Consumer confidence takes a hit in October

    Consumer confidence experienced an October surprise of sorts after reaching a nine-year high in September.   The index now stands at 98.6, down from 103.5 last month.  

  • Ascena Group’s non-executive chair to retire

    Elliot S. Jaffe, ascena retail group’s co-founder and non-executive chairman of the board of directors, announced his plan to retire.   Jaffe co-founded dressbarn in 1962 and served as CEO until 2002. He was ascena’s chairman of the board until January 2011, and then transitioned to non-executive chairman.  

  • New J.C. Penney location emerges in San Bernardino

    In an age when mall owners’ overriding challenge is what to do with the space left by departed department stores, one 50-year-old center in California landed a new one.   Penney last week opened a 119,000-sq.-ft. location at Inland Center in San Bernardino, joining co-anchors Macy’s, Sears, and Forever 21. The fully renovated space it occupies was last home to Gottshalks.   

  • High street rents go, well, sky-high

    Current retail thinking that the high and the low ends are driving the industry has gotten a boost from CBRE Group.   High street rents are off the charts worldwide, according to company’s just-released Global Retail Rents report. Rents in prime shopping locations during the second quarter were up 30% in Rome, 24%, 20% in Milan, and 14% in Sydney and New York.  
     

  • Nordstrom on the hunt for new CFO

    Nordstrom’s longtime CFO is stepping down.    Nordstrom announced that executive VP and CFO Mike Koppel has decided to retire from the company in spring 2017. Koppel will remain in his role until then to support the search for a new CFO and assist with his successor's transition.    Koppel joined Nordstrom in 1999 and has been the company's finance head since 2001.  

  • Raley’s ‘Park’ gets OK from Sacramento planners

    Raley’s, the Northern Californian grocery chain, got one step closer to its vision to build a neighborhood “hub” in Sacramento.   According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, the city’s Planning and Design Commission voted 12-to-1 to approve the chain’s plans for “The Park,” a 108,000-sq.-ft. open-air center ringed by a metal canopy and featuring large store windows and shrub-filled “green screens.”  

  • Target recalls Halloween-themed window lights over choking hazard

    Target’s voluntary recall is helping keep Halloween safe for young children.   The mass merchandiser recalled 127,000 Halloween-themed LED gel window “clings” because of the choking hazard they pose to children. The decals, an easy and affordable way to decorate windows and glass doors, light up when a dedicated button is pressed.  
X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds