Real Estate

Online mattress start-up Casper is getting more upfront with shoppers.   The fast-growing company plans to open some 15 pop-up shops in cities across North America, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The pop-ups are scheduled to launch in October 2017, and will remain open through spring of 2018.  

Westfield’s billion-dollar renovation of its Century City Mall in Los Angeles will include a swanky Uber Lounge where customers can wait in style for their rides.    The shopping center owner has formed a partnership with Uber to facilitate use of shared rides at its centers nationwide. The mall owner will create drop-off and pick-up stations at every one of its U.S. properties, whose locations will be digitally mapped into the Uber app. The idea: make pick-ups and drop-offs easier and build mall traffic.  

The spinner craze helped propel Five Below in its second quarter, as the teen and tween value-retailer turned in an exceptionally strong performance that topped expectations.   Revenue rose 28.7% to $283.3 million in the quarter ended July 29, topping analysts' estimates of $276.6 million. Same-store sales jumped 9.3%, the highest since the chain's IPO in June 2012.  

Westfield’s billion-dollar renovation of its Century City Mall in Los Angeles will include a swanky Uber Lounge when it is completed this fall.   Westfield has formed a partnership with Uber to facilitate use of shared rides at its centers nationwide. The mall owner will create drop-off and pick-up stations at every one of its U.S. properties, whose locations will be digitally mapped into the Uber app. The idea: make pick-ups and drop-offs easier and build mall traffic.  

Boll & Branch, until now an online-only seller of towels and linens, has opened its first brick-and-mortar location at the Short Hills Mall in New Jersey.   Claiming to sell the “World’s Most Comfortable Sheets,” Boll & Branch also offers towels and will inhabit a 2,137-sq.-ft. shop at the high-end, suburban mall known as one of the few to house Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, and Macy’s under one roof.  

In what it claims to be the biggest-dollar real estate transaction in the state of Virginia this year, Morgan Properties bought the Mark Center in Alexandria for $509 million.   The Mark Center combines 2,664 residential units with 63,320 sq. ft. of retail on 150 acres within the Capital Beltway. The site features read access to Interstates 295, 395, and 495 and is within minutes of downtown Washington, D.C.  

One of the nation's largest fragrance retailers is shrinking its store portfolio.   Perfumania has begun store closing sales at 65 stores. The nationwide sale is being conducted by Gordon Brothers and its joint venture partner, Hilco Global.  

Simon Property Group raised eyebrows in the real estate and retail communities this week with the filing a suit that challenged Starbucks’ decision to close 78 Teavana stores in Simon malls. All retailer 379 of the tea shops are slated for closure through next year.