Retail

New York -- DreamWorks Animation is looking to bring a little bit of Hollywood magic to the nation's shopping malls. The film studio has developed a high-tech Santa Claus  experience, billed as "DreamHouse," that it hopes to roll out to malls for the holidays, with two developers, Forest City and General Growth Properties already buying in, the New York Times reported.
    

Short Hills, N.J. — Visit Machu Picchu in Peru at The Mall at Short Hills this summer. In partnership with PromPeru: The Commission on the Promotion of Peru for Export and Tourism, The Mall at Short Hills will feature Peru-themed promotions from June 13 through July 10.

Highlights include:

An interactive exhibit of Machu Picchu: The centerpiece of the effort is a 20 X 30 ft. exhibit of the fabled Machu Picchu, the Incan citadel named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a 2007 international Internet poll.

Plano, Texas - Rent-A-Center Inc. has named Mike Case to VP marketing strategy and insights. Case is responsible for global administration of customer insights/market research, marketing analytics, business innovation, CRM and loyalty.

Recently, Case served as VP marketing and senior loyalty officer for La Quinta Inn & Suites Earlier in his career, Case held leadership positions in organizations such as American Airlines, Brierley & Partners, Sage Telecom, First USA Bank and Virgin America.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores, announced that it has named Jeffrey Thomas senior VP-merchandise operations. He replaces Scott Zucker, who left the company at the end of May.

Thomas joined Family Dollar in 2003 as a director of vendor performance. He went on to assume roles with increasing responsibilities, and in 2013, was named VP-merchant services.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse has completed its acquisition of one-time-rival Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. The combined company has more than 1,700 stores, approximately 26,000 employees and sales of $3.5 billion on a pro forma basis.

The final price tag to combine the two retailers was $1.8 billion, or $65 per share.

New York — M-A-C Cosmetics has signed a long-term lease at 853 Broadway in Manhattan’s Union Square, according to The Feil Organization, the building’s owner and manager. RKF represented M-A-C in the lease negotiations. The retailer plans to open in time for the 2014 holiday shopping season.

M-A-C will occupy a space on the ground floor and project a two-level storefront plus 14 ft. of frontage along 14th Street, giving it excellent visibility.

Montreal - LightSpeed is launching Advanced Reporting for LightSpeed Cloud, which adds Big Data analytics to LightSpeed’s cloud-based POS system. The analytics capability is designed to give retailers real-time insight into sales, inventory trends and customer preferences.

LightSpeed’s new Advanced Reporting for Cloud includes more than 40 reports that give detailed information on product sales, profits and margins; customer preferences; employee performance; payment methods; and vendor-by-vendor analytics; across all stores and channels.