Marketing

Cincinnati – Macy’s is reducing its presence in Pittsburgh. The retailer has sold its downtown Pittsburgh building at 400 Fifth Avenue to Philadelphia-based Core Realty and will close its store in that location.

Bentonville, Ark. – It’s no secret that a big part of Wal-Mart’s strategy is to maintain its market share in the face of competition from Amazon.com, and maybe even steal some away.

But Wal-Mart is now taking the fight for customers directly to Amazon in a big way with a new pricing and shipping promotion that directly challenges the upcoming July 15 Amazon “Prime Day” event.

Mahwah, N.J. - Ascena Retail Group Inc. has downgraded several aspects of its outlook for fiscal 2015, which ends July 25. Ascena now expects full-year adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations in the range of $365 million to $375 million, and full-year adjusted earnings per diluted share from continuing operations in the range of $0.57 to $0.60, as compared to its prior expectation of $0.70 to $0.75 per share

A revamped lineup of the heavily litigated, occasionally controversial and highly profitable line of Bratz dolls has returned to retail.

MGA Entertainment announced that the Bratz – Cloe, Yasmin, Sasha and Jade – would return to store shelves this summer. To give fans of the brands the opportunity to reserve their doll of choice, MGA partnered with Toys "R" Us to offer an exclusive online pre-sell of the new core collection. Until July 25, the public will be able to purchase Bratz dolls on the Toys"R"Us website and receive a free gift.

Amazon.com and Walmart aren’t the only retailers lowering prices this month. Food Lion has jumped on bandwagon at its 1,100 stores with a three-pronged price reduction effort.

Food Lion has announced significant investments in prices throughout its stores by lowering prices on thousands of items that are most important to customers, according to the company, tapping into its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations.

Indianapolis -- Fresh Thyme Farmers Market may have only been in business in three years, but it is thinking big.

With some16 stores in the Midwest, the value-priced, organic specialty grocer is scheduled to open 60 stores by 2019. It will open two new location in the Indianapolis area on Aug. 6.

Phoenix -- Jeff Green, president of Jeff Green Partners, and Jerry Hoffman, president of Hoffman Strategy Group, have announced a formal collaboration to expand their companies’ work on complex, mixed-use feasibility research including retail, residential, office and hotel uses.

New York -- Crate & Barrel has nabbed a CEO from the executive ranks of a much more upscale competitor.

The home furnishings retailer named Doug Diemoz, currently chief development officer at Restoration Hardware, as CEO, effective Aug. 1. He replaces Sascha Bopp, who was named CEO in 2012 but left in August 2014. Crate & Barrel COO and CFO Adrian Mitchell has been interim CEO during the search for a permanent replacement.

New York -- J.Crew Group, a company struggling to regain its mojo, is jumping into the value category.

The company announced it will launch a new store banner, J.Crew Mercantile, selling lower-priced (“value-driven”) merchandise with classic J. Crew styles for women, men and children. The first J.Crew Mercantile store will open in late July, at The Shops at Park Lane in Dallas. The retailer plans to open more Mercantile stores in strip centers and some malls, Bloomberg reported.

Peoria, Ill. - Cullinan Properties has acquired an approximately 264-acre site located at the northeast intersection of interstates 55 and 80 in Joliet, Illinois. The property was purchased from O & S Holdings, LLC who acquired the property in 2008, and originally entered into an agreement to develop a project known as Bridge Street Town Center.

However, with the sale of the property, O & S Holdings has terminated the original development agreement. “