Strategy

Katy, Texas -- Sporting goods retailer Academy Sports + Outdoors will continue its Midwestern expansion push with plans to open four new stores across Indiana and Kentucky later this fall.
 
The first two locations — Evansville, Ind., and Owensboro, Ky. — will mark Academy's entry into both states followed by the opening of stores in Louisville and Middletown, Ky., prior to the holidays.

Pacific Sunwear overcame weak mall traffic and bad weather to log its eighth consecutive quarter of same-store sales growth with a 2% comp increase in the fourth quarter.

The teen and young adult retailer said sales from continuing operations during the quarter ended Feb. 1 totaled $218.6 million compared to sales of $222.8 million during the fourth quarter the prior year, a period which included the benefit of an additional week which added sales of $9 million. PacSun ended its most recent fiscal year with 618 stores compared to 644 in the year earlier period.

Ikea wants to expand the warehouse of its Detroit-area store in Canton, Mich. As a result, Ikea Canton, which opened June 2006 at 311,000 sq. ft., would grow to approximately 355,000 sq. ft. Initial utility work would begin this summer with actual construction starting in autumn. The store would remain open and operational during construction, maintaining its full product offering throughout the project’s completion in spring 2015.

New York -- As part of minority eBay shareholder Carl Icahn’s ongoing battle to separate eBay from sister company PayPal, the activist investor on Wednesday urged fellow eBay shareholders in an open letter to sell 20% of its PayPal unit in an IPO.

The latest move, which Icahn said would prompt a stand-alone PayPal while preserving the synergies between the pair of companies, is softer than Icahn’s January announcement that he wanted a full spinoff of PayPal from eBay.  

By Dustin Watson, partner and director of sustainability, DDG

Place-making has become perhaps the essential element in creating value in today’s competitive retail environment.

Philadelphia – A new $500 million retail/residential development is reportedly planned for downtown Philadelphia. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, a block of stores located on Market Street between 11th and 12th Street in Philadelphia will be razed or moved to make way for a new complex that will be known as East Market.

Bloomington, Minn. -- Mall of America has launched a $325 million expansion project in cooperation with Mortenson, a U.S.-based construction and development services company, Hotel Development LLC, an enterprise of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and the city of Bloomington, Minn.

North Plainfield, N.J. — Roy D. Vice has joined Levin Management as VP of construction and development. In his new role, Vice will work closely with Levin’s property management and leasing teams to oversee all construction and development activities in the firm’s retail portfolio of more than 13 million square feet.