JCPenney Co.

Less than 12 hours after Macy’s shared bleak holiday results, J.C. Penney Co. said enhanced digital capabilities and strong demand for its private-label offerings helped it to produce strong holiday season same-store sales growth, which allowed the company to reaffirm its full year profit forecast.

Female executives take leading roles in retail IT arena

If a “leader” is someone who knows how to take charge, achieve goals and inspire others along the way — even in the most trying of circumstances — then the women featured in this special section are leaders in every sense of the word. They have toiled and proved their mettle — and smarts — in a field that traditionally has not been all that female-friendly: technology.

For the retailing industry, 2015 was another year of seismic shifts as merchants continued to keep pace with the evolving digital landscape. It was also a busy year of executive comings and goings. Here is my pick of industry executives — all new to their positions — to keep an eye on in 2016.

Which brands will break new ground, fall from grace, or overcome obstacles in 2016? Here’s my list of brands to watch in 2016. Since I couldn’t narrow the list to a handful as I’ve done in past years, I decided to expand the list to 26, one for each letter of the alphabet.

So here’s a brand-builder’s almanac for the coming year:

Springfield, Va. -- PREIT announced that Springfield Town Center in Springfield, Virginia, has recorded $505 PSF in sales for tenants less than 10,000 sq. ft. open during the center's first full year of operation, 18% above the company's portfolio average as of September 30, 2015.

The newly redeveloped 1.35 million sq. ft. regional mall was acquired by PREIT March 2015 and celebrated its grand re-opening in October 2014 after undergoing a dramatic renovation and rebranding.

J.C. Penney’s efforts to become a world class omnichannel retailer are under the leadership of a new chief information officer with a unique background.

J. C. Penney appointed Therace Risch as executive vice president and chief information officer, effective immediately. Risch joins the retailer from COUNTRY Financial, and succeeds Scott Laverty.

Mallgoers who need to see what’s happening at the North Pole before they believe in Santa Claus will have their doubts erased, thanks to J.C. Penney. According to Advertising Age, Penney is using Oculus virtual reality headsets in an immersive holiday promotional experience called “Twas the Flight before Christmas” at four select malls. Customers will be able to interact with a virtual “Santa’s Workshop” environment.

Denton, Texas -- The Weitzman Group announced it’s brokered a deal with Francesca's for 1,200 sq. ft. of retail space in Golden Triangle Mall, located in Denton, Texas. This will be Francesca’s first location in Denton.

Blake Shipp with the Commercial Retail Division of The Weitzman Group and Paul Burridge with MGHerring Group handled negotiations for the mall. Robert J. Wright with Collett Southwest represented the retailer.