Apparel

Although retail sales in August increased, they came in at a much slower pace than anticipated, according to the National Retail Federation. Sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.1% seasonally adjusted from last month, and increased 3.9% unadjusted year-over-year.

Fancy Feast Gourmet Cat Food is teaming up with celebrity fashion designer Malan Breton to organize a runway show featuring feline-inspired fashions at Style360 New York Fashion Week.

Breton created three looks for his spring/summer 2014 collection based on the style and look of the iconic Fancy Feast cat, a Silver Chinchilla Persian. 

New York -- On their recent earnings (second quarter) call with analysts, Coldwater Creek CEO Jill Brown Dean and CFO/COO James Bell talked technology, specifically discussing the results of the company’s implementation of the new Oracle-based inventory planning system.

The implementation was competed in March 2013, Bell noted. He added that while the company had, in recent years, developed many inventory management disciplines, it was lacking adequate tools to fully maximize its inventory investment.       

Philadelphia -- Destination Maternity Corp. plans to relocate its corporate headquarters and distribution center from Philadelphia, to southern New Jersey.

The company's corporate office operations (which are currently split between its headquarters at North 5th Street in Philadelphia and its offices in the Philadelphia Navy Yard) will move twelve miles from the current 5th Street headquarters facility to a completely renovated 74,000-sq. ft. building in Moorestown, New Jersey. The chain expects the move to occur in fall 2014.

El Segundo, Calif. -- JustFab, the online fashion subscription retailer, has opened a 3,000-sq.-ft. flagship at the Glendale Galleria, Glendale, Calif. It is the company’s first physical store.

“We have created the global leader in fashion subscription in just three short years and will now bring our customized shopping experience into physical stores to enable customers to touch and feel our products," said co-CEO Don Dom Ressler.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 28% amid several one-time charges and a shift in quarterly tuxedo rental revenues. Citing macroeconomic challenges, the company lowered its fiscal 2013 guidance.

Davenport, Iowa -- Von Maur Department Stores will open its first location in the Northeast, at Eastview Mall in Victor, N.Y., which is located just outside of Rochester. The two-level, 140,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open on Oct. 26.

Located at the mall's former Bon Ton location, the store underwent a complete reconstruction by local contractor LaChase Construction to achieve Von Maur's signature exterior brick façade with arching entryways accented by a copper roof and cupolas.

Mount Vernon, Ill. — Big Lots has signed a lease for 32,022 sq. ft. at Times Square Mall in Mount Vernon, Ill., about 80 miles east of St. Louis. The store is slated to open in the first quarter of 2014.

The Men's Wearhouse experienced a decline in customer traffic and a subsequent drop in retail clothing sales during the second quarter ended Aug. 3, and has lowered its guidance as a result.

TORONTO — Hudson's Bay Company's second quarter was characterized by strong same store sales growth at Hudson’s Bay and rising e-commerce sales, which were partially offset by a decline in same store sales at Lord & Taylor.