Retail

New York — Lao Feng Xiang Jewelry has signed a long-term lease for its first North American retail store and showroom at 585 Fifth Avenue in New York City. Slated to open in the fall of 2014, the 6,100-sq.-ft. flagship store will feature three floors plus a basement. The jeweler has more than 2,300 sales outlets around the world.

Winick Realty Group represented the owner, TSW 33 Realty Corp. in the transaction, achieving a record rent that edged close to the record asking price of $2.25 million per year. CBRE represented Lao Feng Xiang.

Rick Herring, president of Ahold USA’s Giant Carlisle Division, plans to retire, effective Feb. 14.

Herring has been at Ahold for nearly 25 years and the company credits him with having made many contributions to the organization.

“We would like to thank Rick for his numerous contributions to our companies, as well as for his leadership, dedication and years of service," stated James McCann, Ahold USA COO. "We wish him all the best in this next phase of his life and career.”

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay and Lord & Taylor are offering True Fit’s fit personalization technology to consumers at TheBay.com and LordandTaylor.com. In less than 60 seconds, consumers can create a True Fit profile at either site, enabling them to get a personal fit rating and size recommendation for every style.

Kirkland’s reported improved year-over-year net sales for the full fiscal year 2014 but a decrease in the fourth quarter, thanks to severe weather-related declines in traffic throughout December, which affected important weekend sales days.

Net sales increased 2.7% to $460.6 million during fiscal 2014, compared with $448.4 million the prior fiscal year, while same-store sales rose 0.5%.

During the fourth quarter, net sales decreased 4.2% to $156.1 million, compared with $162.9 million in the previous fourth quarter. Same-store sales were flat.

Brisbane, Calif. – Bebe Stores Inc. had a difficult second quarter of fiscal 2014, reporting a net loss of $5.5 million. Net sales declined 4.1% to $130 million, from $135.5 million reported for the second quarter a year ago. Same-store sales decreased 1.9%.

CEO Steve Birkhold acknowledged challenges, but cited sequential improvement in same-store sales and holiday sales, as well.

Walmart is marking the 20th anniversary of its entry into Canada this year by spending big bucks to expand physical stores and distribution capacity while devoting a much smaller portion of a $500 million budget to e-commerce.

Walmart said it would spend close to $500 million in Canada this year with $376 million of that amount dedicated to 35 supercenter projects totaling one million square feet of new selling space. Walmart currently operates 389 stores in Canada, of which 247 are supercenters. By year end it expects to have 395 stores of which 282 will be supercenters.

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly using image recognition technology to allow consumers to wave an iPhone in front of a product and automatically have it placed on their Amazon shopping list. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, this feature uses the iPhone’s built-in camera, eliminating the need for barcode or QR code scanning.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Ingenuity Development has entered into a strategic alliance with a New York Stock Exchange-traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) to combine forces on joint venture opportunities for retail and mixed-use projects in the Mid-Atlantic and the Southeast. Ingenuity will also see opportunities to work with its affiliate, Divaris Real Estate, to lease and manage completed projects.