Neiman Marcus

New York -- This spring, The Mall at Short Hills in Short Hills, New Jersey, welcomes four new boutiques: The Art of Shaving, Calypso St. Barth, Geox and Maje.

Now open on the lower level, The Art of Shaving offers men’s luxury grooming products.

New Jersey’s first Calypso St. Barth boutique is now open on the upper level. Inspired by travel, culture and the arts, Calypso offers women’s apparel, accessories and home décor.

I indulged in a shopping center grand opening on May 22 – and I’m glad I did.

Themed “Indulge,” the opening event marked the official unveiling of the nation’s first truly downtown outlet center, Outlet Collection at Riverwalk, located in the heart of New Orleans, and built by West Coast developer Howard Hughes Corp.

By Jason Fredrickson, Guidance Software

For a couple years now, outlet centers have been moving from the outskirts of cities closer and closer to downtown. Howard Hughes Corp.’s Outlet Collection at Riverwalk is the first to make it all the way downtown — into the center of the newly rebuilt New Orleans.

Slated to open on Memorial Day weekend, the former 200,000-sq.-ft. Riverwalk Marketplace has expanded into a 250,000-sq.-ft. outlet center following a $70 million redevelopment.

The Neiman Marcus Group has added Adam Brotman, Phillipe Bourguignon, and Vivek “Vic” Gundotra to its board of directors.

Brotman is chief digital officer for Starbucks and is responsible for Starbucks’ core digital businesses, including mobile and mobile payments, Web, card, loyalty, e-commerce, wi-fi and the Starbucks Digital Network. Prior to joining Starbucks in 2009, Brotman held key leadership positions at leading digital media companies including Corbis and PlayNetwork.

It has been about five months since the Target data breach made the vulnerability of retail POS data a hot topic. Investigation has since shown the Target breach did not involve POS terminals. However, high-profile thefts of customer payment card data from Target and other retailers including Neiman Marcus, Michaels and Sally Beauty Supply have highlighted the need for U.S. retailers to adopt the global Europass, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) standard for accepting payments from cards that store consumer information on secure embedded microchips, rather than on magnetic stripes.

Discount retailing has undergone a major transformation in recent years

Toward the end of 2008, it became painstakingly obvious to retailers that impulse spending was out and frugal saving was in. Faced with an imminent recession, staggering job loss and quickly depleting discretionary and savings accounts, consumers began to shift their focus to value. The impact of such a large-scale economic event and an abrupt consumer focus shift would appear to alter the fundamental realities of retail.

By Jason Fredrickson, Guidance Software

The recent cyber attacks on Target, Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores had an immediate and profound impact on sales, as well as a widespread and ongoing ripple effect on consumer confidence in the safety of credit-card information at point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

By Mike Gregory, Kurt Salmon

As consumers busy themselves with spring gardening and plans for summer travel, their favorite retailers are already planning for back-to-school and the 2014 holiday season. And after delivery delays during holiday 2013 left many customers fuming, a core issue for retailers is how to optimize their peak-season order fulfillment and related customer service.

Boston – Online clothing donation service Fashion Project is partnering with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman to provide a personalized charitable clothing donation service for customers who participate in the InCircle loyalty program. All members, regardless of their annual spending, can utilize the White Glove Clothing Donation service to donate used luxury clothing, shoes, and accessories to a charity of their choice.