Real Estate

Redmond, Wash. – Microsoft will open its first flagship location, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

In addition, Microsoft plans to open 10 new stores across the U.S. in time for the 2014 holiday season, while the flagship New York store is being built. Microsoft has not given a specific timeframe for when the flagship will open, but said it has been planning the store for five years. It will open in a spot currently occupied by luxury accessories brand Fendi, a few blocks south of an Apple store.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open a new store in Hawthorne, California, in Los Angeles County, on Oct. 11. The store is located in the Hawthorne Town Plaza.

This new opening is part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.

Dublin, Calif. – DD’s Discounts, a division of Ross Stores Inc., will open a new store in Houston, on Sept. 27. The store is located in the Mission Bend Shopping Center in the Mission Bend neighborhood.

Including this new location, DD’s Discounts will operate more than 150 locations in 15 states and is on schedule to complete its expansion plan to open approximately 20 locations in 2014.

Mixed-use projects have become a consumer home base

The concept of a shopping center as a place where people simply show up to make a few purchases and leave is becoming passé. Increasingly, developers are building mixed-use centers that include residential, office and entertainment components, which turn them more into a consumer home base and less of a functional destination.

New York -- DSW Inc. is opening new stores in Watertown, New York, and Louisville, Kentucky, on Oct. 2. The Watertown store will be located in the Salmon Run Mall and the Louisville store will be located across from St. Matthew’s Mall.

DSW offers other features including the DSW Rewards loyalty program and the Shoe Lovers community on Facebook.

Aussie apparel brand Cotton On is as much about fun-fashion as it is about fast-fashion. The Geelong, Victoria-based brand operates more stores in the United States (124) than Zara and Uniqlo combined, and is an international behemoth with more than 1,300 stores operating globally under 10 different banners, including the 522-unit Cotton On, Cotton Body, Cotton On Kids, FREE by Cotton On and Rubi Shoes.

Growth has been fast and strategic, but peppered with humor, optimism and the occasional dose of controversy.

New York -- Urban Outfitters has big plans for its women’s lifestyle brand, Anthropologie. The retailer plans to to open 25 to 50 Anthropologie stores during the next five years that will be approximately three times larger than the brand’s current 7,000-sq.-ft. average, Bloomberg reported. The company plans, for the most part, will  either expand existing locations or find new ones when a lease comes up for renewal, the report said.

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open a new store in Southern California, on Oct. 11. The store is located in the La Mesa Center in the city of La Mesa, a suburb of San Diego.  

This new opening is part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.