Strategy

Retailers should be cheered by the latest forecast from the National Retail Federation.    With increases in consumer spending expected to remain solid during the remainder of the year, the NRF on Tuesday upped its forecast for retail sales in 2016 to 3.4%, from the 3.1% forecast earlier.    Online and other non-store sales, which are included in the overall figure, are expected to increase 7% to 10% year-over-year rather than the 6% to 9% forecast earlier.  

Under Armour on Tuesday reported a drop in profit for the second quarter, related to the closing of The Sports Authority. The athletic wear brand also revealed plans to plant its banner on prime real estate in Manhattan.    

While consultants have argued for decades that workforce management (WFM) is a mixture of art and science, it is neither. It comes down to profit and applying practical – not over-engineered – workforce management practices that enable higher performing retail operations.   

The Rite Aid Foundation's KidCents program announced Wednesday a $25,000 donation to the Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program, a Detroit-based nonprofit that empowers Detroit youth to be positive and productive members of society through education, athletics, mentorship and intervention.  

Hastings Entertainment is going out of business.

The Dallas area is getting its sixth Nordstrom Rack store.   Nordstrom said it will open a Nordstrom Rack at The Centre at Preston Ridge in Frisco, Texas. The approximately 33,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open in fall 2017. The property is owned by Brixmor Property Group.  

Online retailer Hollar is looking to take sales away from a segment that, to date, has proved relatively immune to digital growth: dollar stores.  

Influential and longtime Walmart executive Don Soderquist died after complications related to heart surgery. He was 82.   Soderquist joined Walmart in 1980 as executive VP of administration and logistics and was a driving force behind the company’s growth. From 1988 to 1999, he served as vice chairman and COO. He retired in 2000 and remained on the Walmart board until 2002.   

New store formats loom large in Starbucks Corp.’s long-term strategy.   The coffee giant on Monday announced that Cliff Burrows, who has headed up Starbucks' Americas business for eight years, will lead a new group within the company called Siren Retail. In the role, Burrows will oversee the global expansion of the chain’s new Roastery concept, as well as the development of the upscale Starbucks Reserve stores. http://www.chainstoreage.com/article/coffee-giant-two-new-store-expansion-moves  

The recent demolition of the Miss Jackson’s anchor store at Utica Square in Tulsa, a fixture in that town’s retail scene for more than 100 years, was a stark Heartland example of the changing face of retail. But mall owners and managers in Oklahoma’s second-largest city feel poised to enter the new era, according to a report in Tulsa World.