Retail

The month of July saw a big turnover at the top.  

After eliminating in excess of $435 million in funded debt.   Payless ShoeSource has emerged from bankruptcy — with a slimmed down U.S. portfolio and a cleaner balance sheet.  

With 20% of emails being filtered into spam folders, retail marketers are missing out on the opportunity to drive an ROI from email.   This was according to “2017 Deliverability Benchmark Report,” a study from data solutions provider Return Path. The report analyzed 2 billion brand emails.  

After a torrid opening quarter, Macy's second quarter numbers come as a relief. Certainly, a same-store sales decline of 2.8% is far from good, but it is one of the better performances Macy's has turned in over recent periods. Of course, the question is whether this gentler decline represents a genuine turning point for Macy's, or whether it is simply a bottoming out after years of sharp deterioration.  

Nordstrom on Thursday reported positive results for its second quarter amid ongoing discussions of a possible buyout.   The upscale department store retailer reported that total net sales increased 3.5% to $3.79 billion in the quarter ended July 29, compared to a forecast for $3.75 billion. Total company same-store sales rose 1.7%, also better than expected.  

Southeastern Grocers has made a temporary appointment permanent.   The supermarket operator, parent company of Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo, Fresco y Más, and Harveys, has appointed Anthony Hucker president and CEO, effective immediately. Hucker has served as interim president and CEO since July 1, 2017.  

As more retailers begin to adopt the Bonobos-style showroom store as their brick-and-mortar strategies, will bike garages become a new fixture in malls and shopping centers?   If so, the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands might prove the design test case. It just opened the first phase of what will be the world’s largest bike garage at the Central Train Station, a 184,000-sq.-ft. space capable of holding 12,500 bikes at full build-out.  

A premium outerwear best known for its signature goose-down jacket with fur-trimmed hood is expanding its fledgling store footprint.    Canada Goose Holdings Inc. announced plans to open three additional retail stores this fall, with locations in Boston, Calgary (Canada), and Tokyo, Japan. Also opening this fall are two previously announced stores in Chicago and London.