Strategy

JCPenney says the company's third quarter results will "exceed expectations" despite a $50 million settlement charge to settle a false advertising class action lawsuit. 

The company announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to settle a false advertising class action lawsuit brought on behalf of California customers who purchased certain JCPenney private or exclusive branded products.

Of all the celebrants of China’s annual “Singles Day” Nov. 11 holiday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was probably the happiest.

By midnight Nov. 11 China time (which is ahead of all U.S. time zones), Alibaba estimated it had settled about $14.34 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) through its Alipay payment platform on its China and international retail marketplaces.

New York-based Janson Goldstein LLP has been tapped as the design firm for the Neiman Marcus store at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, Women’s Wear Daily reported.

The firm has a wide-ranging practice that includes both residential, hospitality and retail work, with a roster of clients that includes Holt Renfrew, Intermix and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Top Pot Doughnuts will open its third Texas retail café at the new Richardson CityLine development located in Richardson.

The Seattle-based doughnut and coffee chain operates 20 stores in the Seattle-Tacoma and Dallas areas.

"We are thrilled to be a part of CityLine,” saidTop Pot Doughnuts co-founder Mark Klebeck. "We look forward to serving the businesses in this highly anticipated development as well as the residents of Richardson and Plano.”

Amazon has scored another coup: Its CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, now ranks as the fourth-richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg. The report puts his fortune at $58.2 billion. [Bloomberg]

Ikea’s U.S. expansion to bring it to another new market

Ikea is looking to open its first store in the state of Indiana.

The home furnishings giant is submitting plans to the City of Fishers, Indiana, to open a 296,000-sq.-ft. store 15 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis.

Pending approvals, construction of the new Ikea could begin as early as summer 2016, with an opening in fall 2017.

Nearly one-third of retailers surveyed by JLL say they plan to open on Thanksgiving Day in order to get a jump on Black Friday sales.

JLL’s 2015 Holiday Sentiment Report, which includes feedback from largely national or global retailers in JLL-managed shopping centers across the United States, also reveals more than half of those retailers expect an uptick in shopper traffic this year.

A new project has the possibility of positioning Albertsons for greater growth as the company aims to expand by buying back some of the stores it unloaded last year as a result of a deal with Safeway.

Albertsons has announced it has completed a $4.8 million renovation of the company's Culinary Kitchens & Technical Center in California. The project, which was in development before the Albertsons-Safeway merger was announced, came to fruition this month in a 33,000-square-foot facility in Dublin, Calif., near the company's Pleasanton corporate campus.