Nike, Inc.

San Clemente, Calif. – The Outlets at San Clemente announces its grand opening coming in October. The lifestyle center will be designed in the style of a Spanish village and offer up to 70 retailers at opening.

Digital design and marketing consultancy Razorfish made two key hires to bolster the capabilities of its rapidly growing commerce practice led by Commerce Strategy head Jason Goldberg.

Jon Reily and Steve White were named vice presidents of commerce strategy and both will report to Goldberg. The hire are said to help the agency meet the increasing demand from clients looking for partners able to combine commerce strategy with world-class delivery to reinvent and digitize their retail channels.

Vernon, Calif. - True Religion Apparel Inc. has named John Ermatinger CEO, effective immediately. Current CEO David Conn is stepping down.

Ermatinger has been serving as True Religion’s interim senior VP of global sourcing and production will build on the strategic initiatives that have been implemented since TowerBrook’s acquisition in July 2013 and will guide the company into its next phase of development.

London -- The most valuable retail brand in the world lacks physical stores. At least that’s according to the tenth annual BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking, released by WPP and Millward Brown. Chinese online giant Alibaba took the top spot of the retail, with a brand value of $66.4 billion, overtaking Amazon, at $62.3 billion.

I’ve been attending the annual CIO Symposium hosted by the MIT Sloan School of Management for several years now, and always walk away with a fresh batch of thoughts from top business, IT and academic minds. Here are three of the most valuable insights I learned at the recent 2015 edition of the conference.

Know Your Customer – Now

By Brian Ehrig

The U.S. dollar has risen by more than 20% against the other major currencies over the last year, buoyed by a respectable if not torrid economic recovery and sinking oil prices, among other factors. That could be a breath of fresh air for U.S. shoppers with a taste for imported goods. For global mega-brands like PVH, Microsoft and Coach, however, the implications are closer to a gathering storm.

A panel of architects, engineers and retailers discussed 2013 California Title 24, Part 6, which is widely acknowledged as the strictest energy code in the United States. And its relevance extends far beyond the Golden State.

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” said Ken Kosinski, construction director, Nike Factory Stores, North America, Nike.

The updated version of the code went into effect on July 1, 2014, and includes a big increase in the lighting-control requirement.

Major shopping center openings in 2014 beg the question, “Are we back on track?”

Last year may be the first 365-day period since the Great Recession that there is enough new shopping center space to crow about.

Chain Store Age’s annual development survey — spanning 26 years — reported pretty spotty new-build efforts from 2009 to 2013, but in 2014 some significant projects opened.

Bauer Hockey: Ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey is throwing its puck in the retail arena. The company will open its first-ever store this summer, in Burlington, Massachusetts, followed by a second location in the fall, in the Minneapolis area.

Greensboro, N.C. -- Tanger Factory Outlet Centers and Foxwoods Resort Casino announced that Tanger Outlets at Foxwoods will celebrate the new center's grand opening on Thursday, May 21 kicking off at 10 a.m. with an official ribbon cutting hosted by Drew and Jonathan from the hit show, Property Brothers. The festivities will include a design workshop with the Property Brothers, an Instagram Tech Lounge, as well as special savings and giveaways.