Events

NASCAR fans will become very familiar with Target, if they aren't already, as the retailer plans to expand its presence in NASCAR during the Sprint All-Star and Coca Cola 600 race weeks. In addition to being the presenting sponsor of the Blake Shelton pre-race concert, Target will have nine branded race carts providing samples of their grocery items in the campgrounds surrounding Charlotte Motor Speedway, a Target Taste Wagon as well as a Target Shuttle that will provide fans transportation to the Target in Kannapolis, N.C.

NEW YORK — Kara Laricks has been named the first winner of NBC's reality competition show, "Fashion Star," and as part of her prize, the designer will launch an exclusive collection at Macy's that is available at 110 Macy's stores across the country and on Macys.com for a limited time.

"We are extremely excited to have NBC's "Fashion Star" winner Kara Laricks collection sold exclusively for Macy's," said Martine Reardon, chief marketing officer for Macy's. "This show has been an amazing

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties and Horizon Group Properties said Tuesday that construction will begin immediately on the second phase of The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City.

The 28,000-sq.-ft. expansion is scheduled to open in November and will bring Columbia Sports, Ann Taylor Loft, Waterford, Kenneth Cole, Lucky Brand and more to the center.

As part of Chain Store Age’s lead-up coverage to RECon 2012, to be held May 20-23 in Las Vegas, we talked with Jones Lang LaSalle’s Lew Kornberg about what his expectations are for the big real estate show. Visit JLL’s booth at RECon, Central Hall, C1001.

What are your expectations for RECon 2012 in terms of activity, attitude, priorities?

Washington, D.C. -- A Tuesday report by the Commerce Department showed that U.S. retail sales during the month of April edged up 0.1%, following a 0.7% gain in March and marking the smallest rise of the year so far. The gain was in line with projections.

Excluding auto sales, retail sales climbed 0.1% in April.

As part of Chain Store Age’s lead-up coverage to RECon 2012, to be held May 20-23 in Las Vegas, we talked with customer analytics firm Buxton’s Charles Wetzel about what his expectations are for the big real estate show. Visit Buxton’s booth 701 in the North Hall Marketplace area of RECon.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Outlet stores will offer all past and present, uniformed service members 10% off anything in store on Armed Forces Day, May 19. All Active Duty, Reservist, National Guard, retirees and dependents from the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard), Uniformed Law Enforcement and Fire/Rescue Personnel, are encouraged to visit one of the 120 Sears Outlet stores throughout the United States to redeem this exclusive offer.

This is not your father’s (or my father’s) RECon. True, the conference wasn’t called that back then, but it is clear to me that this influential annual event is evolving. I see three relatively new RECon trends/developments that I think are significant beyond the conference itself; indicating bigger-picture changes within the broader retail real estate industry:

Stronger international presence