Appliances

There was a glimmer of good news in Sears Holdings Corp.'s first quarter earnings report.    

A department store chain is pursuing a new business opportunity.   J.C. Penney now offers business-to-business solutions for operators and facility managers in the hotel and lodging industry, as well as the multi-unit residential industry. And the chain has a few categories that fit the bill.   

JCP ended its last fiscal on a moderately upbeat note -- especially on the profit front, where it managed to push into the black. These first quarter results change the mood music to a much more somber tone and undoubtedly represent a setback in the company's recovery plans.  

Shoppers are increasingly turning to Amazon for purchasing bulky goods that traditionally haven’t sold all that well online.   

A home improvement start-up with a green conscience is expanding out of its Austin, Texas, hometown.    TreeHouse will open the nation’s first-ever net-zero energy store on June 1, at The Hill, a shopping center in Dallas. The store will be the retailer’s second location, but not for long. An additional store, planned for the Plano area, is due to open this fall.   

Ikea has completed the installation of one of the largest solar rooftops in Ohio.   The solar panel installation is atop the retailer’s future store in Columbus, Ohio, due to open in summer 2017. The 213,000-sq.-ft. solar array consists of a 1.21 MW system, built with 3,546 panels, and will produce approximately 1,447,700 kWh of electricity annually for the store, the equivalent of reducing 1,017 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).  

Shoppers are no longer willing to pay full price as deep discounts influence consumer behavior.   That is one of the key findings of a new consumer report by First Insight, which found that widespread discounting by department stores and mass merchants is significantly influencing the expectations of discounts when consumers shop in other product categories.   

Ikea continues to grow its U.S. renewable energy portfolio, with a goal of being energy independent by 2020.   The retailer has completed installation of its fifth biogas-powered fuel cell system in California – and in the country – at its East Palo Alto location in the San Francisco Bay area.  

Starting soon, select J.C. Penney will be offering bathroom remodeling services.  

The Oaks, a 39-year-old Macerich-owned property in Thousand Oaks, California, has been awarded the first BREEAM green standards certification for an in-use building in the U.S.   BRE America, a unit of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM), bestowed the designation on the Macerich property at an awards event in London this week. BREEAM is the oldest sustainability assessment method for new construction, renovations, and in-use properties.