Apparel

Gap Inc. is planning to close 175 of its Gap stores and streamline its workforce by as many as 250 positions as the struggling retailer moves to re-ignite productivity and growth at its namesake brand.

The company says the series of strategic actions are part of a comprehensive effort to deliver more consistent and compelling product collections and engage customers across all channels.

Toronto, Canada — Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is positioning itself for major global expansion with the purchase of the 15-year-old Galeria Kaufhof department store chain from German retail conglomerate Metro Group for about $3.17 billion. The planned purchase includes 103 Galeria Kaufof stores in Germany, as well as 16 German Sportarena stores and 16 Galeria Inno department stores in Belgium.

San Francisco — Gap Inc. on Monday lowered the boom on its biggest and most troubled division, announcing it would close 175 of its 675 namesake stores in North America over the next few years, with 140 of the closures occurring in the current fiscal year. In line with the closings, the brand’s headquarters workforce will be reduced by about 250 roles this year.

The closings will not impact Gap Outlet and Gap Factory Stores. Gap will also close a limited number of European locations, but it did not give a specific store count.

Cincinnati — Phillips Edison Grocery Center Reit II Inc. has purchased the Old Alabama Square center in Alpharetta, Ga. Old Alabama Square is a 103,268-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by the Fresh Market.

This acquisition adds the first Fresh Market grocery-anchored shopping center to the company’s portfolio. The center also features national tenants Walgreens, Firehouse Subs, Verizon Wireless and State Farm.

Charlotte, N.C. – June is the traditional wedding month, and Belk Inc. is making things easier for marriage-minded customers with a new wedding registry app. The Android and iOS app offers features including a registry checklist and tips for brides and grooms-to-be.

In addition, a thank you note assistant automatically tracks gifts and givers. Users can also set up a registry and scan items directly from mobile devices.

As retailers race to make their gift registry services more interactive, Belk is launching a new wedding registry app.

In addition to in-store kiosks, registrants can now set up a registry, manage their registry and scan items using their smartphones.

The app features tips on what to register for and a registry checklist to make sure no items are missed. Any time a registrant is in the store and sees a new item they would like to add, they can scan from their smart phone to immediately add the item to their registry.

Dallas — Neiman Marcus Group posted a profit of $19.8 million for the third quarter, compared with a year-earlier loss of $8 million. (The quarter included a $16 million charge for amortization of intangible assets, compared with a $36 million charge a year earlier.)

Revenue for the period ended May 2 grew to $1.22 billion from $1.16 billion in the year-ago period, boosted by Neiman’s acqusition of luxury online retailer MyTheresa in fall 2014.

Shoe Carnival is planning to open smaller stores to leverage untapped markets in smaller communities, as well as the company's omnichannel capabilities.