Retail

Columbus, Ohio -- Big Lots on Friday posted a lower-than expected quarterly profit, and the company cut its outlook for the crucial holiday quarter, in the face of strong competition and aggressive promotions from rivals.

The chain said profit for the quarter ended Oct. 30 fell 42% to $17.7 million, from $30.3 million a year earlier, when the company's earnings included a 10-cents-a-share benefit from real estate transactions. Net sales in the latest quarter rose 2% to $1.06 billion as same-store sales rose 0.7%.

New York City -- Looking for a hit list of the hottest new stores around the globe? Check out the 10 contenders below. The list comes from the folks behind the cutting-edge, London-based retail consultancy echochamber.com.

Forever 21, Times Square, New York City: This vast, 90,000-sq.ft. store has a sense of quality that is astonishing given its low price-points. The best feature is the exterior: an amazing interactive digital billboard features giant-sized virtual models who take Polaroid pictures of the crowd below.

Houston -- Houston-based commercial real estate brokerage Baker Katz, an X Team partner, announced that it has acquired a former Hollywood Video building at Grogan’s Mill and Sawdust in The Woodlands, Texas. 

As part of an investment fund dedicated to real estate development, acquisition and ownership, Baker Katz purchased the 7,500-sq.-ft. building that is located near the area’s newest Wal-Mart Supercenter in The Woodlands, and plans to renovate and expand the building, subdivide it and re-lease the new spaces to individual tenants.

New York City -- Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has been retained as the exclusive retail leasing agent for the Manhattan franchisee of Elevation Burger, which controls the chain’s locations south of 50th Street and is currently the only Manhattan franchisee. 

Earlier this year, RKF represented the burger chain’s franchisee in the leasing of its Manhattan flagship location at 103 West 14th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. It is scheduled to open in December.

New York City -- Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has completed a 7,800-sq.-ft. retail lease with Nadeau at 57 East 11th St. in New York City’s Greenwich Village.

The furniture retailer will occupy a combined 4,300 sq. ft. on the ground floor and 3,500 sq. ft. in the basement and is scheduled to open in first quarter 2011. This will be the first New York City location for the brand.

Nadeau is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., and currently has 15 locations nationwide.

New York City -- The National Retail Federation on Friday released its 2010 list that annually ranks the 10 stores with the best customer service.

The list is based on surveys of more than 9,000 shoppers, all asked the following question: “Thinking of all the different retail formats (store, catalog, Internet or home shopping), which retailer delivers the best customer service?”

In total, the NRF ranked 46 stores, and will release the complete list in January.