Displays & Signs

The deadline to enter the Retail Design Institute’s annual store design competition has been extended to January 15, 2016.

The competition celebrates exceptional retail experiences across more than 20 categories from department stores and specialty shops to restaurants and pop-ups. In addition, a single "Store of the Year" will be chosen from among the winning entries.

Photo: ColorTek - Studio C, St. Louis

The resounding priority among retailers has been accelerating their integrated omnichannel offering – which has meant everything from merging online and store teams to measuring the in-store impact of digital campaigns. Recent innovations include mobile app and in-store technologies, multichannel fulfillment solutions, and coordinated cross-channel promotions. These kinds of initiatives will continue to be top of mind in 2016, particularly as consumer expectation for a seamless and personalized experience – and deep discounts – continues to grow.

Venice, Fla. -- Main Street Ranchlands and The Sembler Company announced the companies have formed a joint venture to develop the Marketplace at Coastamar in West Villages located in Venice, Florida. This is the first commercial opportunity in the rapidly growing master-planned community in south Sarasota County.

When it comes to reaching today’s consumers, Richardson, Texas-based vertical specialty apparel/accessories retailer Fossil Group Inc. is not living in the past.

“We are focusing on image creation for our social promotions,” said Jencey Keeton, marketing manager, digital branding and global marketing for Fossil, during an interview with Chain Store Age. “Images are now the way consumers are speaking. To be relevant, social platforms must include images.”

The National Basketball Association is set to open a flagship on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue next week. And according to media reports, it includes lots of attenting-getting flourishes.

The centerpiece of the new three-level store, which comes some four years after the NBA closed its previous flagship on Fifth Avenue, will be a 32-foot-tall basketball net with 31,000 LEDs that reaches up to the second floor, Women’s Wear Daily reported. The net, visible from the street, is topped with sculpture designed to replicate a basketball tread.

Move over millennials, there are two demographics ready to shake up the consumer landscape and impact retail sales.

Microsoft introduced its HoloLens interactive 3-D virtual reality platform at the beginning of 2015. So far, it has not entered wide use among consumers or businesses.

According to The Verge, Microsoft is promoting HoloLens with a HoloLens Experience Showcase live demo area in its New York flagship store.

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