Strategy

Nordstrom Rack is going to set up shop in a rapidly expanding area of Los Angles.    The retailer will open an approximately 27,000-sq.-st. store in fall 2017 at FIGat7th, an open-air center in the heart of downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) owned and operated by Brookfield Property Partners L.P.   The new Nordstrom Rack will join Target, H&M, Victoria's Secret, MAC and other retailers and restaurants at the center, which located at 7th & Figueroa Street.  

For the first time since 2014, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has a chief executive.   The struggling retailer said it has promoted Fran Horowitz to the role of CEO. She will also join the company’s board of directors. A veteran fashion retailer, Horowitz joined Abercrombie in fall 2014 as brand president of Hollister Co. In 2015, she was tapped for the new position of president and chief merchandising officer of the entire company.   

It doesn’t pay to clash with Ralph Lauren, one of the most iconic names in fashion retailing.      Ralph Lauren Corp. and president and CEO Stefan Larsson have “mutually agreed to part ways,” with Larsson staying on until May 1, 2017, the company said in a statement. Larsson’s departure follows disagreements with Lauren, 77, the company’s founder, executive chairman and chief creative officer. Jane Nielsen, CFO, will head up the business while it hunts for a new CEO.  

Neil Saunders, managing director of retail research and consulting firm GlobalData Retail (formerly known as Conlumino) analyzes Ralph Lauren Corp.’s third quarter results and the news that CEO Stefan Larsson is leaving the company after a little over a year on the job. His comments are as follows:   

Restoration Hardware has filed a lawsuit against Crate and Barrel, accusing the rival brand of stealing confidential information to gain a competitive edge.   Restoration Hardware claims Crate and Barrel implemented a similar strategy that features food and beverage services at certain gallery locations.   

Retailers, trade organizations and business leaders are teaming up and taking steps to stop the border adjustable tax proposal.   The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) joined more than 120 other trade associations and businesses to launch “Americans for Affordable Products,” a national campaign aimed at ending the border adjustable tax. The tariff, which is a component of the tax reform proposal under consideration in the U.S. House of Representatives, would impose a 20% tax on all imported goods.  

Consumer confidence slipped slightly in January after reaching a 15-year high in December, though outlook for the present overrode the outlook for the future.   The index now stands at 111.8 (less than an expected 113), down from 113.3 the previous month.  

Eighty retail real estate executives from CBRE recently gained the distinction of being the first class to graduate from a course designed to give field professionals a deeper knowledge of rapidly evolving retail business models and how they influence site selection.  

Land’s End’s growing commitment to environmentally focused business practices has earned it the Green Masters Award — for the seventh consecutive year.