Strategy

Jackson, Miss. -- Altar’d State, retailer of apparel and accessories, as well as home goods, personal care products, and books and music, opened a new store at the Renaissance at Colony Park, in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 13.

Located across from P.F. Chang’s, between Talbots and Cellular South, Altar’d State makes it a practice to support charitable causes in each community it locates in. 

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — It has been a rough couple years for retailers, and no segment has been hit harder than office products, which has suffered a double whammy from the downturn in consumer and business spending. Staples, long the leader in the office products industry, has fared better than rivals Office Depot and OfficeMax, and its dominance was evident again on Wednesday, even if the second quarter results the company reported were uninspiring.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties announced that Jimmy Neely and Kyle Capshaw have joined the company's leasing department.

Neely joins CBL as a senior leasing manager responsible for Hanes Mall in Winston Salem, N.C., and Randolph Mall in Asheboro, N.C. He previously held various positions with Colonial Property Trust of Birmingham, including leasing, development and peripheral property.

New Albany, Ohio -- Abercrombie & Fitch Co. reported Wednesday that profit for the second-quarter rose 64% to $32 million, up from $19.5 million, on increased demand in the United States and Europe.

Revenue rose 23% to $916.8 million, as previously reported, and same-store sales increased 9%.

Erie, Pa. -- Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co. said that Jos. A. Bank Clothiers and Fox Head will be opening at the company’s Millcreek Mall, near Erie, Pa., in early November.

Jos. A. Bank will be located in the Promenade section of the mall. Motocross apparel retailer Fox Head will set up shop on the Macy’s Court.

Millcreek Mall Complex, in Millcreek Township, Pa., comprises more than 2 million sq. ft. of shopping, lodging, dining and entertainment. 
 

Philadelphia -- Urban Outfitters reported Monday that profit for the quarter ended July 31 dropped 21% to $56.7 million, from $71.7 million a year earlier. The company blamed increased expenses related to investments in e-commerce, retail catalogs and technology for the performance slip.

The operator of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People and Terrain clothing stores saw revenue rise 10% to $609.2 million, beating analysts’ expected $604.1 million.

Same-store sales slipped 2%.

 

New York City -- Saks reported Tuesday that it has tightened its losses in the quarter ended July 30, posting a loss of $8.4 million compared with a loss of $32.2 million in the year earlier period.

The luxury retailer cited increased full-price selling for the improvement, but warned Wall Street that it was heading into the fall selling season with caution because of the uncertain economic conditions.
 

Albuquerque, N.M. -- Kroger Co. said Tuesday that its Smith's Food & Drug Stores division has completed the installation of photovoltaic energy panels at two Albuquerque, N.M. stores.

The solar energy output from these two store systems is 320,000 kWh, eliminating the need for that amount of energy from fossil fuel sources. It is estimated this energy savings would heat and cool 30 homes in New Mexico for one year; is the equivalent of planting 57 acres of trees; or removing 40 cars from the road.