Corporate Governance

Housewares industry veteran Robert Edmund Reichenbach, Lifetime Brands EVP and president of the cutlery and cutting board and cookware and bakeware divisions, has died. He was also president of the Cookware Manufacturers Association.

M&M'S World Las Vegas is celebrating the recent opening of its new candy wall — the largest M&M'S candy wall in the world — with a 3-D representation of the wall designed on the sidewalk outside the store.

M&M'S World Las Vegas has partnered with the We Talk Chalk art group to create the three-dimensional chalk rendering.

The wall itself spans more than 62 ft. wide and includes 125 tubes of colorful M&M'S, offering 22 varieties and 11 flavors.

Houston — Exceptional job growth, population gains and improved retail fundamentals have significantly elevated the sales prices for shopping centers in Texas over the last year, according to Deal Sikes & Associates, a Houston-based real estate valuation and counseling firm.

Some retail properties have increased in value more than 20 percent in 2013, compared to last year, added Matthew Deal, principal at Deal Sikes & Associates.

Analysis from price intelligence firm Profitero showed that Amazon.com makes more than 2.5 million price changes every day, compared with a little more than 50,000 total price changes made by brick-and-mortar retailers Walmart and Best Buy throughout November.

Profitero’s analysis also revealed that Amazon.com has increased its number of daily price changes 10-fold during the last 12 months. At the beginning of December 2012, the online retailer implemented just 269,113 price changes.

Houston — Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets group has closed the sale of Northwest Crossing Centre, a 179,469-sq.-ft., fully leased shopping center in Houston. USA Properties purchased the property from Weingarten Realty. JLL secured 10-year, fixed-rate financing for the acquisition.

The National Retail Federation is calling the short-term budget deal reached by Congress this week a step in the right direction for the economy and for retailers.

In a prepared statement, Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said legislators must move past partisan differences to resolve lingering fiscal issues.

By Keri Dawson, VP, Industry Solutions and Advisory Services, MetricStream, [email protected]

As 2013 comes to an end, the retail/CPG industry is bracing itself for even greater compliance requirements, increased regulatory scrutiny, and more risks resulting from social media, global operations, and multi-tiered supply chains.

Ulta Beauty posted strong double-digit gains during its third quarter thanks in part to strength in sales of prestige cosmetics and skin care and strong online sales.

Sales for the quarter ended Oct. 27 rose 22.4% to $618.8 million. Same-store sales rose 6.8%, including the impact of e-commerce sales.

Net income increased 19.1% to $45.4 million compared with $38.2 million. Income per diluted share rose 18.6% to 70 cents per share, including 2 cents per diluted share related to a severance charge.