Marketing Tactics

Bloomfield Hills, Mich. --Taubman will offer a special "Frozen"attraction at 10 of its shopping centers across the country from Nov. 6-Dec. 24. The attraction comes a few days before Disney releases its "Frozen Sing-Along Edition" DVD on Nov. 18.

St. Louis –- Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. swung to a profit in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from a loss in the same quarter a year earlier. The retailer also announced that will open five pop-up stores for the 2014 holiday season, including one in Macy’s Herald Square flagship in New York City, and its State Street location in Chicago.   

New York -- Real estate firm RKF announced that it has arranged a 5,900-sq.-ft. lease for Boardriders in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Located on the south block between Ninth Avenue and Washington Street at 408 West 14th Street, this will become the Quiksilver concept store’s first Manhattan location.  

Berlin, Germany –- Five leading German retailers are partnering with U.S. shopping app Shopkick. At launch, Shopkick’s German network is comprised of more than 1,400 stores: all Douglas (largest beauty retailer in Germany), Media Markt and Saturn (together the largest consumer electronics retail chain in Germany), OBI (one of the largest do-it-yourself retailers in Germany) and Karstadt (one of the largest department stores in Germany) locations.

New York -- Modell’s Sporting Goods will celebrate 125 years in business with the grand opening of its newest location at 1019 Montauk Highway in Shirley, Long Island, bringing the sporting goods chain’s total to 157 storefronts.     The 14,000-sq.-ft. Southport Shopping Center location will officially open on Thursday, Oct. 23 with a ribbon cutting by president and CEO Mitchell Modell and area officials.  

Seattle –- VenueLabs is launching a free social listening tool geared for small businesses called AboutLocal. AboutLocal lets small retailers listen to and engage with customers in real time across hundreds of disparate channels.  

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. on Wednesday fired the first retail salvo of the holiday season, announcing that, for the first time ever, it is offering free shipping on all online purchases—no matter the amount—from Oct. 22 through Dec. 20. The free shipping offer comes early in the holiday shopping timeline, reflecting retailers’ concerns about what is expected to be a highly promotional season.