Research Topic

Amid growing sales and surging profits, specialty retailer Cato is finding its expansion efforts being held back by the availability of suitable shopping centers.

Retailers looking to satisfy customers this holiday season need to be sure all channels are aligned and working properly.

When it comes to retail rents, Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue is really in a class by itself.

Upper Fifth Avenue, between 49th and 60th streets, is the most expensive retail corridor in the world, with rents rising 3.6% to $3,500 per square foot through the first half of this year, according to an annual report from Cushman & Wakefield. (The top 10 streets are listed at end of article.)

Fifth Avenue rent was nearly double that of the second priciest corridor, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, at $2,399 per square foot.

EMV adoption by consumers is on the rise, even as merchants are struggling to catch up.

Those are among the key findings of a survey by Ingenico Group, which found that 60% of U.S. cardholders have received EMV cards from their banks/card issuers.

Out of the U.S. cardholders who have both EMV and magstripe cards, 54% prefer magstripe cards over EMV cards, with 44% attributing their preference to habit.

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Starbucks is the number one retailer employer in the United States when it comes to fostering a happy workplace.

That’s according to a survey by CareerBliss, which analyzed the key factors that impact workplace happiness. Ace Hardware, Ikea, Apple and Barnes & Noble round out the CareerBliss top five.

“The employee reviews on CareerBliss rank Starbucks as the number one retail employer in the United States when it comes to employee happiness,” said Heidi Golledge, co-founder of CareerBliss.

Judging from the latest 2015 Temkin Loyalty Index, which measures consumer loyalty to large companies, shoppers are maniacal when it comes to their favorite grocery stores.

Based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, H-E-B, Publix and Trader Joe's were at the top of the list when it comes to consumer loyalty, bookended on either side by credit card and insurance company USAA.

Aldi and Hy-Vee also made the top 10 list of companies to which consumers are most loyal.

Columbus, Ohio -- WP Glimcher announced CEO Michael P. Glimcher has been named to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trust’s (NAREIT) 2016 executive board. Glimcher previously served as chair of NAREIT’s Audit/Investment committee.

Urban Outfitters Inc. will spend less than $20 million on its acquisition of Vetri Family Restaurant group, which owns the well-regarded Pizzeria Vetri chain, Bloomberg reported. The acquisition comes as consumers are spending more on “experiences” rather than clothing. “We believe that we do experiences really well and know our customer very well, and we have a lot of history in growing brands organically,” Urban Outfitters CFO Frank Conforti told Bloomberg.

When it comes to retail rents, Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue is really in a class by itself. 

Upper  Fifth Avenue, between 49th and 60th streets,  is the most expensive retail corridor in the world, with rents rising 3.6% to $3,500 per sq. ft. through the first half of this year, according to a annual report from Cushman & Wakefield. (The top 10 streets are listed at end of article.)

Fifth Avenue rent was nearly double that of the second priciest corridor, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, at $2,399 per sq. ft.

Popularity and resale value do not always correlate when it comes to gift cards.

Visa is tops in a ranking of the gift cards expected to be most popular this holiday season.

Rounding out the top 10: American Express; iTunes; Wal-Mart; Target; Starbucks; Netflix; eBay and Google Play. The ranking is from CardHub, a credit card comparison Web site owned by Evolution Finance.