Marketing Tactics

Young women’s apparel retailer to open Chicago flagship
Canada’s Aritzia Inc. is expanding its Chicago footprint as it targets both brick-and-mortar and online expansion. The fashion retailer will open a flagship on Rush Street in Chicago this fall. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company already operates a store in the Windy City, at Water Tower Place.
Aldi makes leadership claim on low prices
Watch out Walmart — discount grocer Aldi is beating you in one crucial area. Aldi’s prices are 21% lower than its lowest-priced rivals, including Walmart, CEO Jason Hart told Reuters. And he plans to maintain that gap going forward. The fast-growing Aldi, which recently entered California, operates some 1,600 stores in the United States, with 400 new locations planned by the end of 2018.

Nutritional retailer posts disappointing quarter

Vitamin Shoppe missed profit expectations for its first quarter, amid challenges with its Nutri-Force contact manufacturing division. Vitamin Shoppe posted net income of $8.0 million for the quarter ended April 1, compared to $14.8 million in the same period last year. Reported fully diluted earnings per share were $0.35 in first quarter 2017, compared to $0.59 in first quarter 2016.
Online giant tops in ‘brand intimacy’

Amazon leads the way in the retail industry when it comes to creating an emotional bond with customers, but the industry as a whole lags behind two other categories. That’s according to MBLM’s Brand Intimacy 2017 Report, in which Amazon placed first in the retail category. followed by Whole Foods Market and Target Corp. The remaining brands in the top 10 for the retail industry are: H&M, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Sephora, Ikea, The Home Depot and eBay.
Jet.com ventures into physical retail
Local chef to curate Gainesville food hall

Deborah Butler’s vision to remake her family’s Gainesville, Florida, retail complex into a unique, local phenomenon got a little clearer this week. Butler has put noted local chef and restaurateur Bert Gill in charge of curating the dining establishments at the Stengel Field Food Hall at Butler Town Center, scheduled to open in 2018. It takes its name from the aviation school run on the site in the 1940s and ‘50s by pioneering pilot Carl Stengel.
Amazon to build homeless facility — at its new headquarters
In the Pink

Fast-fashion e-retailer shines in store debut
British online fast-fashion retailer Missguided makes the leap to physical retail with a high-concept, high-impact store that brings its website to life.
Reimagining Cumberland Farms

Cumberland Farms, a convenience store fixture in New England and central Florida for half a century, once fielded more than 1,000 stores. But, it has slimmed down to 600 locations as it transforms itself from a strip-center and gas station dairy store to a chain of freestanding, modern C-stores providing an array of food service options and gasoline.
A Tale of Two City Developers

If you live in a big city, you gauge your age by the changing real estate. As a kid and then as a teenager, I saw Shea Stadium and Giant Stadium being built. Both are now memories. Driving a New York City cab in the early ’80s, I rarely got a fare to Williamsburg and, when I did, I quickly turned around and headed back to Manhattan over the Williamsburg Bridge.
Breakout Retailer Awards

Five dynamic retail and restaurant brands — Altar’d State, Bentley’s Pet Stuff, MOD Pizza, Sugarfina and Warby Parker — took home the honors as the winners of Chain Store Age’s annual Breakout Retailer Awards.

The awards, selected by CSA’s editorial board and sponsored by Paint Folks, recognize innovative retail and restaurant concepts that are on their way up —brands that have crossed the “newbie” line, and are well positioned for growth, in store, online, or both.
The Best at Managing Change

Opportunistic acquirers continue retail’s reinvention, making business good for creative management companies
Unusual circumstances are forging the best of times for third-party shopping center managers. Rampant store closings, after-effects of the commercial mortgage backed securities crash, and opportunistic buyers are creating opportunities for innovative managers to reinvent properties for their clients.