Apparel

Rock Hill, South Carolina — Southern home furnishings retailer Home South will open a 30,000-sq.-ft. store at Rock Hill Galleria, located in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The new store is slated to open this fall.

The Rock Hill Galleria location marks the company’s second store. Its original store is situated in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company was founded in 2013 by the operators of Carolina Pottery.

Richmond, Virginia — Divaris Real Estate announced the signing of three leases totaling approximately 14,000 sq. ft. of commercial space in Richmond, Virginia.

Dollar General renewed its lease for 8,000 sq. ft. in the Divaris-leased and –managed 360 West Shopping Center, located at 7218 Hull Street Rd.

The Dolan Company signed a lease for 3,120 sq. ft. of office space, and Liquid Glass Kustomz, automotive customizing, signed a lease for 2,856 sq. ft. of flex space in the Divaris-leased and –managed Belt Trade Center.

Virginia Beach, Virginia — Tupelo Honey Cafe has leased 7,000 sq. ft. at Town Center of Virginia Beach, offering traditional Southern restaurant fare. This second Tupelo Honey Cafe in Virginia will be located at the corner of Constitution Drive and Main Street on the first floor of the newly constructed 4525 Main Street Tower, according to Divaris Real Estate, which leases and manages the center.

New York -- Uniqlo will make its Midwest debut in fall 2015, opening a flagship in downtown Chicago in fall 2015. The store, located at 830 North Michigan Avenue, will be Uniqlo’s second largest location in the United States, after its Fifth Avenue flagship in New York.

The shopping habits of today’s consumers have changed; retailers must be able to provide the product information they want through one or more of the marketing channels they may frequent — and all of those communications must be consistent with the physical in-store experience. That means new merchandising tactics are being embraced by industry leaders who are turning to digital signage to enhance the shopper experience and achieve competitive differentiation.

Genesco’s Lids division acquired wholesale team sports company Nashville Sporting Goods and its production affiliate National Team Embellishment, both headquartered in Nashville, Tenn.

San Francisco – Shopper traffic declined 6% in July 2014 compared to the same month in 2013, due to real wage pressure, favorable summer weather, and a shift towards big-ticket item purchases, according to monthly benchmarks from in-store analytics provider Euclid.

Baltimore -- Under Armour announced that George W. Bodenheimer, former president of sports network and entertainment company ESPN has joined the company's board of directors.  

Bodenheimer is an ESPN and cable industry pioneer, having served as the company's longest-tenured President from 1998 to 2012, during which time he led an unprecedented period of global growth. He most recently served as executive chairman of ESPN, before retiring from the company in May 2014.

As an article that appeared recently right here in Chain Store Age noted, there is something interesting going on with back-to-school shopping this year.

Tamarac, Fla. – Mayors Jewelers, a brand of Birks Group Inc., will use private label credit card services from Alliance Data Systems Corp. Alliance Data is offering a customized, multi-channel credit program for the Mayors Jewelers brand, designed to help deliver incremental sales, cross-product selling and increased transaction size.