Footwear

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. opens three new stores on April 25. The stores are located in Lawton, Okla., Alabaster, Ala., and Tampa. Fla.

The Lawton store will be located at Lawton Town Center, while the Alabaster store will be located at Colonial Promenade Alabaster and the Tampa store will be located at Westshore Plaza. As of April 25, Dick’s will operate 566 stores in the U.S., including 11 in Alabama, 27 in Florida and eight in Oklahoma.

Richmond, Va. — Divaris Real Estate has announced the signing of two retail leases in the greater Richmond suburb of Midlothian.

Tex-Mex restaurant Chuy’s has leased 7,449 sq. ft. in the Village at Swift Creek in Midlothian. The Richmond office of DRE represented the landlord, Swift Creek Associates. This will be Chuy’s second Richmond location. Chuy’s will join Guitar Center, Babies “R” Us, TGIF, Red Lobster and Cracker Barrel in the development.

Columbus, Ohio -- DSW Inc. is bringing women’s footwear brand Yellow Box into the retail arena. DSW’s Affiliated Business Group (ABG) division has entered into an agreement with Yellow Box Corp. to operate stores under the Yellow Box banner. The company plans to open Yellow Box stores throughout the United States, starting off with three to five store openings in 2014.

Niwot, Colo. -- Crocs Inc. has opened its first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified store, in Syracuse, N.Y. As detailed in Crocs’ new 2013 sustainability report, the store is certified at the LEED Silver level and features a high-efficiency LED lighting system and low-VOC and sustainable building materials.

Guess? has appointed Joseph Gromek to its board, increasing the number of directors to seven and bringing the total number of independent directors to five. Gromek will also serve on the compensation and nominating and governance committees of the board.

Minneapolis — Twin Cities’ fashion retailer “Len” has renewed its lease at Minneapolis City Center with a seven-year commitment. The existing 7,196-sq.-ft. store is the retailer’s only downtown location following the consolidation of several brands and stores over the last six months. The chain operates five more locations in Minnesota and one in Illinois.

Minneapolis City Center is the two-story retail portion of a 1.6 million mixed-use property owned by Shorenstein Properties LLC.

The Wet Seal board has decided to reduce the cash compensation for its directors by 20% for the remainder of fiscal 2014 and to reduce the number of director nominees to be elected at its upcoming annual meeting from nine to seven.

“By reducing director compensation and the number of directors nominated for election at our 2014 annual meeting, the board is doing its part to ensure it can respond quickly to issues as they arise and support the cost reduction efforts already taken by management,” said non-executive chairperson Lynda Davey.

New York -- The Jones Group Inc. announced that its shareholders overwhelmingly voted to approve the company’s acquisition by Sycamore Partners.

Under the terms of the deal, Sycamore will acquire Jones for $15.00 per share in cash, or a total transaction value of approximately $2.2 billion.

Atlanta -- Footwear retailer Shoe Carnival on April 6 will launch its first integrated national advertising campaign in support of the spring season. The campaign accompanies the brand’s U.S. expansion and debuts a new tagline, "A surprise in store."

Columbus, Ohio — DSW Inc., Designer Shoe Warehouse has announced the opening of a new store in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on April 10. As of April 10, DSW will operate 407 stores in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

DSW also operates an e-commerce site at DSW.com. In addition, the company supplies footwear to 357 leased locations in the United States under the Affiliated Business Group.