Retail

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.

Former Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke is among an impressive roster of top business executives slated to participate in a Wall Street Journal executive conference called ECO:nomics — Creating Environmental Capital.

The event, scheduled for April 2-4 at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, Calif., is billed as a day of no holds barred interviews in an interactive format that offers unparalleled networking.

Charlotte, N.C. — Havertys Furniture has leased a 45,000-sq.-ft. location in Glensford Commons in Fayetteville, N.C. The Charlotte office of Divaris Real Estate represented Havertys Furniture in the lease negotiations.

Other leases completed by Divaris in the Carolinas include a 3,600-sq.-ft. location for Firsthealth of the Carolinas in Carthage, N.C. Divaris handled the lease negotiations on behalf of the landlord, Food Lion.
 

Brentwood, Tenn. – Tractor Supply Company has named Mark J. Weikel to the company's board of directors. Weikel currently serves as president and CEO of Luxottica Retail Optical North America.

Sionic Mobile, an m-commerce company that provides mobile gifting, payments and rewards, has added William Mills, CEO of William Mills Agency, to its advisory board of directors. Mills has more than 30 years of financial marketing and branding expertise.

New York -- Snowstorms and bitterly cold weather took a bite out of sales for some retailers in January. One of the retailers feeling the chill was Fred’s, which posted a 1.8% decline in January same-store sales.

"The weather was a significant challenge for us in January," said CEO Bruce Efird, who added that it disrupted shopping patterns, but also resulted in “more than 120 store closings during the final week of the month."

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney Company has entered into a new partnership to develop the vacant land around its Plano, Texas, home office in the Legacy Business Park. The new partnership will be managed by Team Legacy, a venture of the Karahan Companies, Columbus Realty, and KDC.

As if the retail industry weren’t challenging enough, those operating stores in California are facing a growing number of lawsuits related to an operational consideration known as suitable seating.