Ulta Beauty

Chicago — Forever Yogurt and T’s Code, a women’s clothing boutique, have leased shops in Glen Town Center in Glenview, Ill. Forever Yogurt has taken 1,134 sq. ft., and T’s Code will occupy 1,789 sq. ft. CBRE represented the landlord, Bank of America Commercial Mortgage, in both leases.

Chicago, Ill. — Whole Foods Market has signed a 45,150-sq.-ft. lease to anchor the second phase of The Mayfair Collection, a large-scale, mixed-use development in Wauwatosa, Wis. It will be the specialty grocer’s second store in the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

Plans for the second phase of the center also include approximately 50,000 sq. ft. of junior anchor retail space, a mix of upscale bars and restaurants, a bank branch and a 140-room hotel.

Portland, Ore. — Cypress Equities, the management company for Lloyd Center in Portland, Ore., has announced that the Center’s owners intend to purchase the 130,000-sq.-ft. building currently owned and occupied by Nordstrom. The acquisition is part of the center’s recently announced renovation plans.

Plans call for the building to change hands in January of 2015. Nordstrom has notified its employees that the store will close.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- The United Entertainment Group (UEG), a global entertainment and marketing agency, has been chosen by HSNi to become its marketing partnership agency of record.

As part of the deal, UEG and its partner UTA (United Talent Agency) will utilize its combined presence in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue to build upon HSNi's ongoing foray into integrating entertainment and retail by building partnerships that consist of celebrity brands, music platforms, television and film collaborations, and like-minded brand partnerships.

Former Ulta Beauty CEO Lyn Kirby is reportedly part of a group that acquired Beauty Brands, a cosmetics chain based in Kansas City, Mo.

According to a Crain’s Chicago Business article, Kirby, along with a leveraged buyout firm in California, snapped up the majority stake from advertising executive and entrepreneur Robert Bernstein.

The nation’s largest arts and crafts retailer plans to go public this year and the launch of a new ecommerce platform that gives Michaels Stores long overdue online sales capabilities is a key element of its growth strategy.

The CES show in Las Vegas is ground zero for big announcements and Amazon sought to make a splash of its own this week, announcing a commitment to 4K technology and arrangements with some of the biggest names in entertainment to enhance television picture quality.

A 1,500-store market potential and an untapped online opportunity await Michaels Stores in 2014 as the retailer’s private equity owners look to sell a portion of their stake and return the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailer to public ownership.