Corporate Governance

As department stores continue to falter and Amazon continues to grow and the “Malls are Dead” headlines continue to proliferate in the general press, one glaring fact rears its head: We built way, way, way too many malls to begin with. Average retail square footage per person in America, by several accounts, is four times that of other industrialized nations like the United Kingdom and Japan.

Starbucks Corp.’s online store has officially closed its virtual doors.   The e-commerce site, which sold Starbucks’ branded merchandise — from mugs and coffee brewers to coffee, tea, and flavored syrups — shut down on Sunday, Oct. 1. The coffee giant decided to close the online store to focus on integrating its physical and digital channels, and to establish stores as destinations, according to Business Insider.  

Nordstrom is looking to appeal to a broader audience.    The retailer on Monday called on top brands to expand their size ranges by adding more items in sizes 14, 16 and 18, along with smaller sizes zero and 2. Nordstrom also said that it is launching an "extended sizing" initiative, beginning with its new store at Westfield Century City, Los Angeles.    

Wages

Dollar General wants to make it easier for its employees to pursue higher education.   In a newly announced partnership with Bellevue University, all full-time and part-time Dollar General employees now qualify for $8,000 and $5,250 respectively in tuition assistance after working at Dollar General for a minimum of 30 days. Plus, immediate family members of employees are eligible for up to $2,625, as well.  

RYU Apparel is coming to the Big Apple.   RYU (Respect Your Universe) announced plans to open a store in in the hip Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The 2,800-sq.-ft. store, the brand's first in the U.S., will open in the first quarter of 2018.  

Planning is underway for Chain Store Age’s 54th annual SPECS conference, which will be held March 18-20, 2018, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine (Dallas), Texas. The event will have attendees that are retail and foodservice executives involved in the planning, design, construction and maintenance of stores and restaurants nationwide.

We have a tendency to take things that have been with us forever, reinvent them, and give them new names. Mixed-use centers, for instance, are essentially the 21st century version of downtowns. But whereas America’s towns grew up organically alongside harbors, rivers, and transportation crossroads, mixed-use centers aren’t always able to be so logically placed.