Retail

Lowe’s, Home Hardware align supply chain with consumer demand

Framingham, Mass. – Staples Inc. underwent a difficult fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 as the company swung from a profit to a loss on special charges, faced investor pressure to change its board, sluggish sales and deal with fallout from its plan to acquire its largest competitor.  

Technology evolves to let smaller stores maximize energy savings

Miami Gardens, Fla. -- Palmetto Park has broken ground on the inline space at Palmetto Gardens Plaza, a 63,000-sq.-ft. shopping center located at 3799 NW 167th St. in Miami Gardens, Florida. Anchor tenant Wal-Mart Neighborhood Store was recently completed and is now open.  

Do more with less. That’s an overall trend in retail facilities services, where retailers have less resources to run their properties even as they come under pressure to increase service levels while also reducing costs.

Washington, D.C. -- Despite harsh winter weather throughout the country, retail industry employment in February increased by 24,000 jobs and has increased 218,000 on a year-over-year basis as retailers and merchants again added strength in numbers to the overall economy, according to the National Retail Federation.

Strong monthly gains were witnessed in apparel, building material and supplies, sporting goods and home and home furnishing sectors. Job gains as calculated by NRF do not include auto dealerships, restaurants or gas stations.

Smart retailing, deep services and creative marketing lure shoppers to top malls

The retail industry is ever-changing, with shoppers now looking to malls as a place of both business and socialization. A constant evolution of attractions is needed to entice them to visit a center and then keep them coming back on a consistent basis.

Savvy mall owners are challenged to practice smart retailing and deliver creative, on-trend marketing tactics when leasing, marketing and operating shopping centers.

New York -- Installing traffic counters and collecting traffic data is easy. But turning the data into better business results is challenging for even the best retailers. Register now for Chain Store Age’s Webinar, “Three Ways to Get the Most Out of Traffic & Conversion Programs,” which will be held on Wednesday, April 1, at 2 p.m. EST.