Real Estate

Kohl’s will open its third distribution center devoted to e-commerce by July as it looks to build on the 50% growth rate experienced last year and surpass annual online sales of $1 billion in 2011.

Katy, Texas -- Houston-area sports retailer Academy Sports + Outdoors announced Tuesday that it will enter the Atlanta market with a new store opening on April 1.

The 70,000-sq.-ft. store is located in McDonough, and is the chain’s fourth store in Georgia.

Dallas -- A Wall Street Journal report on Monday said that, according to court filings, Blockbuster will start closing 186 more stores by the end of the month, bringing the number of its U.S. locations closed or slated for closure to 1,145, or more than a third of its total, since the video-rental chain filed for bankruptcy protection in September.

In filings Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Blockbuster said it will reject the leases on 186 of its stores by March 31.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. -- Kohl's Corp. said Tuesday that plans to open a distribution center in July in Maryland that will create about 1,200 jobs over the next three years.

According to the retailer, the Edgewood, Md., DC will fulfill online orders. Kohl’s anticipates hiring more than 200 full- and part-time employees when the center opens in July.

With the newest DC, Kohl's will have a total of 12 distribution centers across the United States.

Medford, Ore. -- Harry & David Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, according to a filing.

The gift basket retailer will continue to operate the business as debtors under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court. The company has nearly $200 million in outstanding debt.

Harry & David sells its products through catalogs, its website and in stores, which are primarily in factory outlet malls across the nation.

A 400,000-sq.-ft., Wal-Mart Supercenter- and Lowe’s-anchored, regional shopping center opened on March 15 in Hamburg, Pa.

Tilden Ridge Shopping Center, owned by West Conshohocken, Pa.-based Ironwood Property Group and leased by Metro Commercial Real Estate, was almost six years in the making, and features a site that shares a traffic signal with a 250,000-sq.-ft. Cabela’s store.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores announced Sunday that it will re-open 12 of its Seiyu stores in Japan, which were affected by the earthquake. A company spokesman added that the retailer is hoping to open the remaining 12 impacted stores as soon as possible.

Wal-Mart has 371 stores and 43 deli outlets in Japan, of which 24 were affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Of Wal-Mart's affected stores, two were severely hit and were completely covered by mud, according to the company.

Bensalem, Pa. -- Charming Shoppes said it would close 240 unprofitable stores in 2011, or nearly 12% of its total outlets, and that more than half of those would be Fashion Bug stores.
 
The locations were not disclosed.

The company said all 30 of its Catherines Plus Sizes stores in outlet locations would be shuttered over a two-year period.