Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI)

Seattle — Recreational Equipment Inc. will make its Florida debut in the spring of 2013 with the opening a a store in Jacksonville, Fla. The company also announced that it will open its eighth store in Texas in the city of San Antonio in the fall of 2012.

The company's first Florida store in Jacksonville will occupy nearly 23,400 sq. ft. and will be located at The Markets at Town Center. The San Antonio location will occupy 27,500 sq. ft.

SEATTLE — REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.), a national outdoor gear and clothing retailer, has announced that Angela Owen has been named SVP marketing and Lee Fromson has become SVP merchandising. 

"With more than 50 combined years with the outdoor industry, Angela and Lee have a wealth of experience in driving innovation and leading essential company business units," said Brian Unmacht, REI's EVP. "They have well-deserved reputations for developing high performing teams and are highly regarded for their strategic leadership."

Seattle -- REI announced that Annie Zipfel has been promoted to senior VP marketing. With her, REI will not hire a chief marketing officer as previously announced, but instead add a senior creative leader to the company.

Zipfel joined REI in 2012 as the divisional VP customer marketing, and was named VP of the marketing division in January 2014. Prior to REI, she held leadership and strategic roles at Target and General Mills.

New York City -- The latest jewel in the portfolio of Mexican department store operator Liverpool took top honors in Chain Store Age’s 30th annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The company’s 319,000-sq.-ft. store in the Mexico City suburb of Interlomas was named Store of the Year and was also the winning entry in the Department Store category.

Here is a complete list of the winning projects, all of which will be featured in the March issue of Chain Store Age and reviewed at its annual SPECS Conference:

Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel was elected chairman of the board of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

Steinhafel previously served as the board’s vice chairman and in his new capacity succeeds former RILA board chairman Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO of AutoZone. 

New York City -- Shopping centers in the United States had their first net gain in occupied space in four years amid a rise in consumer confidence and job growth, according real estate research firm Reis Inc., Bloomberg reported.

Neighborhood and community shopping shoppers saw a net increase of 3.18 million sq. ft. in the fourth quarter, the most since 10.1 million sq. ft. in the last three months of 2007.

REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) has opened its first Manhattan location, in the landmarked Puck Building in SoHo. The 35,000-sq.-ft. space (14,000 sq. ft. of selling space) has been restored to honor the iconic building’s more-than-century-old history — with a respect to detail evident throughout. How did REI come to select the Puck Building?

Seattle -- REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.) announced that it will open its first location in Ohio next fall at Rockwood Commons in Cincinnati. The one-story location will occupy 22,000 sq. ft. and will serve more than 5,000 active REI members as well as other outdoor enthusiasts in the community.

The company also announced that it will open a store in Medford, Ore. The 23,500-sq.-ft., one-story location will open next fall in Alba Village and help outfit approximately 7,300 local active members and other adventurers.

Yonkers, N.Y. -- Forest City Ratner Cos., the developer of Westchester’s Ridge Hill, in Yonkers, N.Y., announced that four new retailers have completed leases and will be opening their stores during the spring/summer 2012. They are LA Fitness; T.J. Maxx; Pandora and Francesca’s Collection.

Additionally, Guitar Center, which had previously executed a lease, will be opening its new store at Ridge Hill during the December holiday season. These new stores will occupy 108,939 sq. ft. at Westchester’s Ridge Hill.

From charming boutiques to sleek global flagships, the New York retail scene was rocked by an influx of newcomers this past year. So many, in fact, that it was hard narrowing down the choices for my annual Ten Best list. After much deliberation, here are my picks: