Apparel

Los Angeles – The board of directors of Guess Inc. has appointed Joseph Gromek, 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.

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.

New York -- Wesfield Garden State Plaza, in Paramus, N.J., is merging the digital experience with the physical one. The shopping center has installed a series of 7-ft. tall, ultra-high definition touch-screen displays, called “digital storefronts,” in its just-opened Fashion District wing. The new wing adds 55,000 sq. ft. over two floors and 22 new stores and restaurants to the mall

Santa Barbara, Calif. – Shopper activity rebounded in March 2014 from the prior month, but traffic and engagement lagged compared to March 2013. In-store retail analytics provider Euclid, released its monthly retail benchmarks report to analyze shopper activity and behavior during the month of March, measuring data from tens of millions of domestic shopping sessions.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to open at a Nordstrom Rack at The Shops at River Walk in Bakersfield, Calif. The approximately 35,000-sq-ft. store is scheduled to open in spring 2015.

The new Nordstrom Rack will be the company's first location in Bakersfield.

Dayton, Ohio – Walmart is the most valuable retail brand in North America, with a brand value estimated at $131.8 billion, according to Interbrand's "Best Retail Brands" report. The retail powerhouse maintains its number one spot and, even with a 6% decline in brand value, it retains an enormous margin over its closest competitor Target, whose brand value is put at $27.1 billion, an 8% increase over 2013.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The board of directors of Wet Seal Inc. has decided to reduce the cash compensation for its directors by 20% for the remainder of fiscal 2014. Wet Seal will also reduce the number of director nominees to be elected at its upcoming annual meeting from nine to seven.

Kathy Bronstein recently resigned from The Wet Seal’s board of directors, effective April 4.

Orlando, Fla. -- Checkpoint Systems Inc. is releasing its new Zephyr 2 RFID label, which is certified by the University of Arkansas’ ARC Center for item-level tagging of all apparel categories in the U.S. and Europe. The Zephyr 2 RFID label design has an integrated UCode 7 chip from NXP Semiconductors, and comes with optimal read/write sensitivity for accurate counting and quicker encoding.  

By Scott Klatsky, director of retail leasing, Time Equities, Inc.

New York City is the world’s retail hub — and within the city are major opportunities for retail expansion.

In fact, Time Equities, Inc., has availabilities all over Manhattan — from Greenwich Village/NYU to Midtown to Upper West Side to Tribeca to Financial District ... even Brooklyn Heights.

Purchase, N.Y. — National Realty & Development Corp. has announced that Flynn & O’Hara Uniforms and Advantage Health have inked leases in the 184,575-sq.-ft. Kohl’s Plaza in Holmdel, N.J.  

The center is located at the intersections of Highway 35 and Union Avenue.