Research Topic

Tampa, Fla. — The retail health clinic and urgent care center market currently is worth about $10 billion and is poised for strong growth in the coming years as the shortage of primary care physicians and crowded emergency rooms increasingly move patients to retail sites, according to new data by Marketdata Enterprises, an independent market research publisher.

When temperatures turn cooler this fall New Yorker’s will have a new Burlington Coat Factory store to satisfy their need for outerwear.

The national off-price chain and operator of 482 stores opened its newest unit in New York’s Union Square on Friday. The 92,000-sq.-ft store is located at 14th Street and University Place is the company’s sixth New York location, which means Manhattan residents are already familiar with the Burlington, NJ-based company.

Amazon.com, Trader Joe’s and Costco Wholesale Corp. came out on top with consumers in a survey by global consulting firm OC&C Strategy Consultants. Rounding out the top five were Zappos and iTunes.

Retail has weathered the recessionary climate, but a quick temperature check will tell you that renovations continue to trump new builds even in a recovering economy.

Richmond, Va. -- An annual seasonal hiring survey released Thursday by Snagajob indicates that more holiday jobs will be available this year than have been expected in any previous season in the study’s five-year history.  


The survey of more than 1,000 hourly hiring managers with responsibility for seasonal hiring, conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs for Snagajob, included the following highlights:

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — George at Asda is extending its Moda line to offer more fashion items for U.K. women over 40.

Over two years in development and following a series of intensive customer focus groups, the collection has been created by George's team of industry leading in-house designers with customers' feedback.

Oak Brook, Ill. -- Inland Diversified Real Estate Trust announced it has raised over $1.1 billion of investor capital, which will be used to continue the company’s acquisitions of a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate properties.

“We believe that we have built an outstanding portfolio of stable, performing commercial real estate assets with very high occupancy, generating sustainable distributions for our investors,” said Barry Lazarus, president and COO of Inland Diversified.

Total home improvement dollars increased by 7% when comparing the 12 months ended July 2012 with the previous 12 months, according to consumer research from The NPD Group.

The units of home improvement items sold grew less than 2%, according to the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm.

Much of the unit growth in the home improvement industry was driven by hand tools, the second largest segment based on unit sales after storage and organization. Hand tools saw an 8% increase in units between August 2011 and July 2012.