Finance & Capital Management

In the face of an increasingly complex retail real estate investment environment, and a world where constantly evolving technology enables us to be connected 24/7 with both current and potential partners, as well as have access to real-time market and property data and analytics at our fingertips, retailers and commercial real estate professionals are being increasingly challenged to be more nimble, flexible and connected than ever before — and to find new ways to maximize efficiency and productivity in the non-stop deal-making environment.

KFC is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a store design makeover as it looks to refresh 70% of its 4,500 locations by the end of 2017.

The chain, owned by Yum! Brands, tapped FRCH Design Worldwide to come up with a modern look that would also highlight the playfulness and outsized personality of the brand’s legendary founder, Colonel Sanders.

Sally Beauty Holdings observed a major milestone recently with the opening of its 5,000th location, but the $3.8 billion Texas-based retailer has even bigger ambitions for more stores and new services as it vies for market share with mass and specialty players.
 

Nordstrom is launching a new national marketing campaign withprint, digital and video components as the retailer seeks to improve its connection with younger customers.

Sally Beauty Holdings observed a major milestone recently with the opening of its 5,000th location, but the $3.8 billion Texas-based retailer has even bigger ambitions for more stores and new services as it vies for market share with mass and specialty players.

It’s the beginning of a new era at long-suffering American Apparel.

On Friday, the company announced it has emerged from Chapter 11 as a private company after successfully implementing its reorganization plan. The announcement comes days after the Delaware bankruptcy court gave its approval to the plan.

J.C. Penney is pursuing a possible sale and partial leaseback of its headquarters building in Plano, Texas, as part of an ongoing effort to reduce debt and manage expenses.

The company announced Friday that a combination of favorable market conditions and a surplus of available square footage within the building make this an attractive real estate opportunity.

A high single digit decline in retail traffic in November and early December caused retailers to cut orders of HanesBrands products, but not enough to keep the leading apparel suppliers from posting impressive profit growth and its third consecutive year of record sales.

HanesBrand’s fourth quarter sales woes highlight the weather related difficulties experienced by retailers, the negative effect on traffic and the subsequent margin pressure that was created as retailers had to intensify promotional activity to move merchandise.