Footwear

Brooks Brothers has opened a flagship store location in San Francisco. At 26,000 sq. ft., Brooks Brothers at Union Square is the second largest retail location in North America.

Pittsburgh -- Dick's Sporting Goods will celebrate the opening of its new store in Duluth, Minn., beginning on Sept. 6.

The Duluth location will be the retailer's ninth store in the state of Minnesota and its 529th nationwide.

Fort Worth, Texas -- Designer Shoe Warehouse — DSW — has announced plans for a new store at The Shops At La Palmera, a 200,000-sq.-ft. outdoor shopping center in Corpus Christie, Texas, according to Trademark Property Company.

Construction has begun on the 18,000-square-foot DSW, which is located adjacent to Catherine’s. This is the first Corpus Christi location for DSW Inc., which is scheduled to open in early 2014.

Columbus — Designer Shoe Warehouse — DSW — has announced the opening of three new stores across the country.

The locations are:

• Colerain Ave. in Cincinnati, Ohio, opens Sept. 5
• Veteran Parkway, Springfield, Ill., opens Sept. 5
• Bowles Ave. in Littleton, Colo., opens Sept. 5

SAN FRANCISCO — Online retailer Piperlime continues to grow its Guest Editor program. The program's most recent addition is actress Jessica Alba, who will join current guest editors Rachel Zoe and Olivia Palermo to launch the fall 2013 season.

The partnership kicks off today, giving customers access to Alba's product picks, favorite trends and fall must-haves.

New York -- DSW plans to test a smaller-store format that will run about 10,000 sq. ft., down from its average 22,000-sq.-ft. model.

DSW did not disclose where the tests would be. But CEO Mike McDonald told securities analysts that, if successful, the small-format stores “will create a new growth vehicle for DSW, which could significantly expand our store count potential,” Columbus Biz Insider reported.

DSW is on track to open 30 stores in 2013.
 

New York -- Analysts project that Francesca’s, a junior apparel and accessories retailer, will have the retail industry’s fastest rates of growth during the next three years, Bloomberg reported.

Francesca’s plans to expand to 900 stores, or double its current store count, in the next seven years.  The chain is projected by analysts to grow sales by 80% during the next three years, faster than any other apparel retailer, according to the report.

Nashville, Tenn. -- Footwear retailer Genesco estimated second-quarter results below analysts' forecast. The company also slashed its adjusted profit outlook for the current year.

“We are disappointed that our second quarter performance fell short of expectations,” said Robert J. Dennis, chairman, president and CEO of Genesco. “Sales trends proved to be more challenging as the quarter progressed and results came in below our plan. The third quarter has gotten off to a difficult start with comparable sales down 3% through Aug. 24.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Genesco Inc., a specialty retailer which sells footwear, headwear, sports apparel and accessories, continues navigating through uncertain consumer environments as second quarter results fell short of expectations.

Despite challenges in the overall consumer discretionary spending environment, Shoe Carnival saw sales increases for the second quarter ended Aug. 3, which coincided with the back-to-school season, driven primarily by its selection of women’s seasonal and children’s footwear.

The leading retailer of value-priced footwear and accessories reported net sales of $216.4 million for the quarter, an 18.8% increase from $182.2 million for the year-ago quarter. Comparable-store sales for the quarter increased 2.6%.