Displays & Signs

Home Depot has plans for a major hurricane preparedness initiative this year, but the program doesn’t begin until nearly two months after residents of storm prone areas should already have plans in place.

New York -- Gilt, the popular online retailer of  discounted high-end designer apparel and accessories, will open its first-ever brick-and-mortar location, a pop-up store in Shelbyville Road Plaza, Louisville, Ky.    
 
“GLI welcomes the first Gilt.com Designer Outlet to the Louisville business community,” said Greater Louisville Inc. CEO and president Craig J. Richard in a press release issued by the online retailer. “The exciting new concept store is a unique addition to our local retail market.”

NEW YORK — New York City's own Empire State Building is joining the 37th annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks festivities. The building will be the site of a choreographed LED tower lights show designed to mirror the explosive finale of the nation’s largest pyrotechnic display.

Redmond, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. on Thursday announced that it plans to open 500 “Windows Store” shops in 500 Best Buy stores across the country and in more than 100 Best Buy and Future Shop locations in Canada. The roll out will launch in late June, lasting through September.

The in-store shops will sell exclusively Windows-based tablets and computers and other Microsoft products, with support from dedicated staff, in an interactive environment.  

REDMOND, Wash. — Best Buy has landed a partnership with Microsoft Corp. that will allow the retailer to offer a Windows Store at 500 of its locations in the U.S. and more than 100 Future Shop locations in Canada.

Retailers are poised to benefit from the June 14 release of The Man of Steel and the extensive licensing activity connected to the latest Superman reboot. Warner Bros. Consumer Products has launched a broad, multi-category licensing program with a variety of global licensees to support the highly anticipated film.

Chicago -- Omnichannel specialty apparel retailer Threadless takes an active approach to Twitter marketing that has resulted in significant lifts in site traffic and customer engagement. At the recent Internet Retailer conference in Chicago, representatives from Threadless and Twitter discussed how retailers can get more from their Twitter campaigns.

“Every tweet was a call to action,” said Threadless Marketing Director Todd Lido. “We were seeing growth but it felt like the strategy was getting stale.”

Willow Grove, Pa. -- Blo/Out Blow Dry Bar will open its third salon in Willow Grove Park this summer. The new, no-appointment-necessary, no-cut, no-color blow dry bar brand from Philadelphia has signed up for 1,300 sq. ft.

Blo/Out Blow Dry Bar stylists wash and dry hair and blow it straight, wavy, curly or up. Customers choose from eight styles. Additional services include scalp massages, makeup, custom styling and a new 20-minute dry styling treatment.

Toy collecting is definitely not just for the small fry at Kidrobot, which has evolved from a cool toy store for kids and adults alike in New York City’s hip SoHo into a multimillion dollar retail and wholesale company.

New York -- Canadian burger chain Big Smoke Burger has leased its first New York City location at 70 Seventh Ave., between West 14th and West 15th Streets in Chelsea, according to Winick Realty Group who represented Group 868 Inc., the landlord in the transaction.

The 2,380-sq.-ft. property includes a 500-sq.-ft. basement and an 880-sq.-ft. outdoor courtyard.

Big Smoke Burger plans to open the restaurant within the next four months. RKF represented Big Smoke Burger.