Apparel

Deerfield Beach, Fla. — Konover South has bought back a portfolio of nine Florida retail shopping centers valued at more than $100 million. Konover had previously sold a share of the portfolio to an institutional investment partner. The buy-back returns complete ownership to Konover, which developed or redeveloped the properties over the years.

Peoples United Bank provided $75 million of new permanent financing for the transaction.

Virginia Beach, Va. — Dollar General, Lily’s As Seen on TV, Sunrise Pizzeria and General Nutrition Corporation have all signed leases for retail space in Virginia, according to Divaris Real Estate, which represented the shopping centers in the transactions.

Dollar General renewed its lease for 6,720 sq. ft. in the Divaris-leased and –managed Glenwood Shoppes in Norfolk.

Undeterred by volatility in its sales results, leading footwear retailer DSW maintained its pace of expansion and opened 16 new stores to end the third quarter with 393 locations.

The operator of large format footwear stores that average about 22,000-sq.-ft., said its third quarter sales declined 0.7% while total sales increased 6.8% to $633 million due to the addition of the new stores. The third quarter comp decline is the latest development in what has been a tumultuous year from a sales standpoint.

The Children's Place president and CEO Jane Elfers focused on the positive following decreases in net and comparable-store sales for the third quarter, despite the company’s reportedly strong performance during the back-to-school period.

Famous footwear may have generated record third quarter sales, but parent company Brown Shoe was unwilling to get too ambitious with holiday expectations given uncertainty it sees around promotional activity and consumer sentiment.

An increase in third-quarter net sales was not enough to bolster Chico’s FAS’s net income, which took a hit from its Boston Proper business.

The company reported net income of $35.8 million, down 15% from $42 million in the same period a year earlier.

Online sales early this week were up nearly 12% from the equivalent Monday a year earlier. Data from the IBM Digital Analytics Holiday Benchmark shows that mobile traffic accounted for nearly 32% of all online traffic, up 42% compared to the same period last year.   

New York — The early bird rate for Chain Store Age's 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year design competition ends on Nov. 29. Retailers, design firms, architects and suppliers are invited to submit entries for the competition, whose regular deadline for submission is December 23, 2013.

Framingham, Mass. -- TJX Cos. is launching its first-ever holiday gift hotline for its TJ Maxx and Marshall stores.

The hotline will be available to shoppers from Tuesday, Dec. 3 through Friday, Dec. 6, and will be staffed by nationally renowned style and gifting experts.

The hotline will be staffed from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

East Rutherford, N.J. -- Victoria’s Secret, in partnership with travel retailer Hudson Group, has opened a new beauty & accessories store in Los Angeles International Airport's Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT).
The store has a sophisticated storefront, while the interior features upscale elements like black-cherry fixtures and eye-catching focal walls. The interior includes a gallery of iconic black and white images and a video wall that broadcasts footage of the Victoria's Secret Angels.