Strategy

Williams-Sonoma is spicing up its store format.

The retailer’s new store in Ponce City Market, Atlanta, features a direct opening to a dining venture by celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman. The adjacent restaurant,  due to open in the fall, is being outfitted by Williams-Sonoma.  A glass wall strategically placed between the restaurant and Williams-Sonoma will offer shoppers an exclusive view into the dining room, and also give them inspiration while they shop. The floor plan is the first in Williams-Sonoma’s history with an independent business.

Bellport, N.Y. – Perfumania wants to be sure investors hear about its growth potential. The specialty fragrance and beauty retailer has retained JCIR, a New York City-based investor relations firm, to expand its investor relations and financial community outreach program.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. is making a big purchase that will enable it to build a big store on one of Hawaii’s biggest islands.

The retailer is purchasing an 11-acre property in Kahului, Hawaii for $18.7 million from A&B Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin.

Lowe’s plans to build a 167,000-sq.-ft. store on the site, located on the island of Maui. The new store will be 16% larger than Lowe’s current store in Kahului, which it leases from a third party.

Whether it’s a blustery storm that rattles your windows, or an employee who forgot their keys behind the counter, everyone has experienced the initial panic that ensues after accidentally tripping a security system alarm.

Christopher Baldwin has been named president and COO at BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., putting the former Hess Retail CEO in position to succeed Laura Sen as CEO of the 208 unit warehouse club chain.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma is spicing up its store format.

The retailer’s new store in Ponce City Market, Atlanta, features a direct pass-through to the latest dining venture by famed chef Jonathan Waxman, with the restaurant outfitted by Williams-Sonoma.

An innovative company incubated in the fashion tech lab Macy’s helped launched has struck a deal that will expose its roster of designers to the department store retailers’ mass market audience.

New York -- Uniqlo will open its second-largest U.S. store to date, in Chicago.

The 60,000-sq.-ft. location, which also marks the Japanese apparel giant’s entry into the Midwest, will open on Oct. 23, on Michigan Avenue near Water Tower Place, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The store will take up three floors in the former Filene's Basement space.

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