Finance & Capital Management

Move over Sephora, fast-growing Ulta Beauty is about to give you some competition.   Ulta will open its first-ever outpost in Manhattan, on the city’s tony Upper East Side.     The retailer leased a 12,000-sq.ft. space on the ground floor of 184 E. 86th St., Commercial Observer reported, with Cushman & Wakefield brokering the deal with Ulta. A Sephora is located on the same block.   

Costco Wholesale’s new co-branded Visa payment card is definitely resonating with shoppers.   Since launching its co-branded Citi Visa Anywhere credit card in June, the club retailer reports that 1 million members signed up for the payment card.    “Most of them have it in hand,” Costco’s CFO Richard Galanti said during the company’s earnings call on Dec. 7. “In terms of conversion, usage and new sign up for the card, all [is] good so far.”  

Retailers continue to launch digital deals this holiday season to snag new customers — but these efforts come at a price.    Retailers’ promotional offers are eclipsing 2015 efforts. Customer orders using a promotion are up 34% versus 2015, and up 52% over the holiday season (Nov. 1-Dec. 5) versus 2015 in North America.     

The City of Brotherly Love is having a love affair with retail.    A new report from Philadelphia’s City Center District reveals that 45 national retailers have helped fuel a $1 billion investment in city real estate during the last five years.  

The food safety crisis that took the wind out of the sails of formerly high-flying Chipotle Mexican Grill has finally taken a toll on the chain’s executive suite.   The chain announced that Monty Moran has stepped down as co-CEO and from his board seat, effective immediately. Chipotle founder Steve Ells, currently co-CEO, will be the sole chief executive. He will also remain chairman.   

CBRE has acquired Cleveland-based Skye Group, a provider of project management, development, and tenant coordination services.    Skye is led by Bradley Sanders, who founded the firm in 2000. Its client list consists of prominent retail real estate investors including Simon, Howard Hughes, Westfield, LaSalle Investment Management, Vornado Realty Trust, New England Development, Ivanhoe Cambridge and Steiner & Associates, as well as brands such as Barneys New York.  

A mall owner in Springfield, Missouri, has asked the town council to declare the area surrounding his site blighted and charge a tax to go towards improvements to his property.   Curtis Jared told town administrators that sprucing up his Brentwood Shopping Center would create more jobs and tax revenue, according to local radio station KTTS. He wants them to form a community improvement district allowing a one-cent increase in the local sales tax.  

Fred’s acknowledged it had a tough fiscal third quarter, but the company is making many changes and looking forward to a brighter future.      The first action Fred’s will take will be closing 40 underperforming stores in the first half of 2017, which  provides an immediate benefit to earnings of more $4 million.  

Hudson’s Bay Co. is bullish on robotics.   

Town administrators in Newnan, Georgia, have proposed offering incentives to owners of local shopping centers to re-invigorate them.   Municipal staff this week invited a group of community leaders to brainstorm about what could be done with the number of dilapidated centers in Newnan. Obstacles preventing owners from re-investing, the group said, included lack of cash flow, fear of selling due to capital gains taxes, and a reluctance to invest until neighboring properties improved.