Marketing Tactics

The formerly online only retailer The Wine Cellar Group isn’t afraid of competition. The company is pursuing its brick and mortar ambitions with a new store in the backyard of Amazon.com and Costco, the nation’s largest seller of wine.
 
Born online in 1990, The Wine Cellar Group opened its first store in 2012 and has since grown to nine locations. Its newest store will be a Wine Cellar Outlet and is set to open later this year in the Heritage Square shopping center in the Seattle suburb of Issaquah, Costco’s hometown.
 

Off-price retailer Century 21 will make its West Coast debut in a most unusual way — taking over a high-tech, high-touch “smart” store for six weeks.  

A record 36,000 retail real estate professionals are gathering in Las Vegas this week for the annual RECon conference where for an intense few days they will exchange ideas -- doing deals and showcase hot projects against the backdrop of a challenging retail sales environment and heightened omnichannel activity.  

A new guest service counter, interactive displays, new food vendors and LED track and valance lighting are just a few of the updates being tested in 25 Target stores in the Los Angeles area.   The initiative, called LA25, features different enhancements Target has been testing across stores and puts them all together to see how they impact stores and the customer experience.    

American Eagle Outfitters announced that Kyle Andrew has been appointed executive VP, chief marketing officer, effective June 6.   Andrew served as senior VP, brand director for Kate Spade Saturday from 2013 through 2015. She joined the company in 2008 as head of global brand marketing and played an integral role in the re-positioning of the Kate Spade brand from a $100 million handbag company to a billion dollar global lifestyle brand.  

Fabulous Freddy’s, an eight-unit retail chain headquartered in Las Vegas, provides customers with a little bit of everything.   “We’re a full-service car wash, express lube operation, gas station and convenience store,” said Jeff Warwick, VP and CFO of Fabulous Freddy’s, during an interview with Chain Store Age. “We’re always exploring opportunities to lease store space to franchises or operate in-store franchises ourselves.”  

New-build shopping center construction was plodding last year — discounting the outlet category, which continues to grow at record speed. And, yet, sometimes one has to look at the quality of what is coming out of the ground — or expanding — and not just the quantity.

Photo Credit: Dylan’s Candy Bar
Personalized gummy bears printed on demand are now among the offerings at Dylan’s Candy Bar stores.   The retailer has partnered with Katjes Magic Candy Factory to bring what’s billed as the “first 3D candy printer in the world” to the United States. The U.K.-based Magic Candy Factory named Dylan’s as its exclusive partner for domestic retail and online sales.