Footwear

Chicago -- Englewood Construction announced its retail group has begun work on the Chicago market’s first Ports 1961, a luxury apparel retailer, in Rosemont, Ill.
 
“Ports 1961 chose to enter the Chicago area by locating within Fashion Outlets of Chicago,” said William Di Santo, president of Lemont, Ill.-based Englewood Construction. “The retail world is anxiously awaiting the August 1 opening of this world-class fashion outlet mall in Rosemont.”

New York -- Foot Locker has received approval from the Federal Cartel Office in Germany to complete its acquisition of Runners Point Warenhandelsgesellschaft mbH (RPG), initially announced in May 2013. RPG is majority owned by private equity group Hannover Finanz and operates more than 200 specialty athletic retail stores in Germany, Austria, The Netherlands and Switzerland under various banners, as well as an e-commerce site.

The transaction, valued at roughly $94 million, is expected to close early next month.

New York -- Women’s yoga and activewear retailer Lululemon plans to open freestanding stores for men by 2016, outgoing company CEO Christine Day said during a presentation at a William Blair & Co. conference in Chicago. Day recently announced her plans to retire from the company once a successor is named.

Seattle -- Outdoor retailer REI announced Thursday it will open two new stores in the spring, one in Flagstaff, Ariz., and the other in Columbus, Ohio.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Private equity outfit Sycamore Partners said Thursday it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Hot Topic, valued at about $600 million and returning the Hot Topic namesake stores and the Torrid banner to the private sector.

"Hot Topic and Torrid are both leaders in their categories, and we are excited to have both brands as part of our portfolio," said Stefan Kaluzny, managing director of Sycamore Partners.  

Evansville, Ind. -- Shoe Carnival said Thursday it has named Kent Zimmerman as VP e-commerce, effective June 3.

Zimmerman, who comes to the footwear retailer from global systems integration and solutions provider Optaros, is charged with overseeing Shoe Carvinal’s e-commerce and omni-channel strategies.

“We believe Shoe Carnival has a tremendous opportunity to grow our e-commerce and overall omni-channel presence in the family footwear industry,” said Cliff Sifford, president and CEO. “

LEXINGTON, Mass. — Stride Rite Children's Group's first-ever multichannel loyalty program, launched in Nov. 2012, has leapt beyond the million member milestone within six months.

The company estimates that 75% of specialty store and online transactions are associated with a rewards member.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Shoe Carnival has appointed Kent Zimmerman as VP of e-commerce. Zimmerman will oversee the company’s e-commerce and omnichannel strategies.

FREMONT — Net sales at Men's Wearhouse's flagship brand stores got off to a slow start, but clothing and tuxedo revenues picked up, allowing the company to see total net sales of $617 million for the first quarter ended May 4, an increase of 5% from $587 million for the quarter last year.  

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had an overall successful first quarter of fiscal 2013 despite some sluggish performance at its Lord & Taylor banner.

The company reported gross profit of $356 million for the quarter ended May 4, up 4% from $341 million a year earlier. Retail sales also grew 4%, from $848 million to $884 million. Consolidated same-store sales increased 4% as well.