Events

Chain Store Age will be closed on Monday, Feb. 20, in observance of Presidents' Day. We will reopen and resume our normal schedule on Tuesday, Feb. 21. 

Shoptalk, the “nextgen commerce event,” is still accepting applications for a new initiative that connects retailers and brands with technology companies — and provides complimentary tickets and travel reimbursement to the event.    Shoptalk will accept applications for its new “Hosted Retailers & Brands Program” until midnight on Friday, Feb. 17. More than 100 retailers and brands have already been accepted into the program. (Shoptalk will be held March 19-22, 2017, at the Aria in Las Vegas.)

The Retail Design Institute has extend the deadline for submission of entries to the International Store Design Competition to March 1, 2017   Design firms and in-house retail design teams from around the globe are invited to submit projects for the Retail Design Institute’s annual competition. Eligible projects are those completed between January 1 and December 31, 2016.     

The CEOs of Gap, Best Buy, Target Corp., J.C. Penney and several other national retailers met with President Trump on Wednesday to discuss tax reform and to make their case against the so-called border tax adjustment.  

Retail sales sizzled in January, beating expectations. Even the struggling department store sector managed to beat the odds.   Retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, grew 0.4% in January, according to the National Retail Federation. (The numbers exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants)  

RCS Real Estate Advisors will receive a Turnaround Award from M&A Advisor later this month for its work in the reorganization of Pacific Sunwear.  

Columbia Sportswear’s prAna brand has become the industry’s latest cyber-breach victims.   When the lifestyle brand’s e-commerce site was targeted last week, the incident lead Columbia to “immediately launch an investigation and engage a leading third-party cyber security firm to assist us,” Columbia’s CEO Timothy Boyle said on the company’s Q4 2016 earnings call on Feb. 9. “Protecting our customers' information is one of our top priorities and we are taking this very seriously.”

Target is prepping for another program aimed at start-ups, specifically those focused on health and wellness.   The new program, called “Target Takeoff,” supports health- and wellness-related start-ups through a “mini-accelerator” effort that will help young companies develop and connect with the major retailers in town.  

The National Retail Federation’s economic forecast for 2017 is a mostly positive one.   The association is projecting that retail industry sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, will grow between 3.7% and 4.2% over 2016, roughly in line with last year’s 3.8% increase.     Online and other non-store/online sales, which are included in the overall number, are expected to increase between 8% and 12%.  

Macerich is pursuing an option to acquire land in Rosemont, Illinois, to allow it to expand its Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall there, according to the local Daily Herald.   Rosemont authorities told the news site that Macerich could draft an option agreement within the next 60 days that would give it right of first refusal on a village-owned lot east of the shopping center that currently houses The Rosemont Theatre.