Apparel

New York — O’Connor Capital Partners has acquired 150 and 151 Worth Avenue, a 142,000-sq.-ft. luxury shopping center in Palm Beach, Fla. O’Connor made the acquisition on behalf of an institutional client.

The Goodman Company developed the center from 1978 to 2001. Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus anchor the center, which is also home to Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tory Burch and Pucci as well as several other national and local tenants.

Irving, Texas -- Revenues for the two-month 2013 holiday period at Zale Corporation dropped 2% to $556 million from $567 million in the same period the prior year. Zale said the decrease in revenues is primarily due to the net decrease of 91 stores compared to last year and a decline in the Canadian exchange rate, partially offset by 2% overall same-store sales growth including e-commerce sales.

Jewelry retailers had mixed sales results during the crucial holiday period.

Tiffany & Co. reported that worldwide net sales in the two months ended Dec. 31 increased 4% to $1.03 billion. Total sales in the Americas region rose 6% to $550 million.

Same-store sales rose 7% due to broad-based sales growth across most of the region. Tiffany is now offering guidance of earnings per diluted share expected to be in a range of $1.27-$1.37 for the fiscal 2013 ending January 31, 2014.

Houston – Francesca’s Holding Corporation expects sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 to be between $93 million and $95 million, including a mid-to-low-single-digit decrease in same-store sales. This compares to previous guidance provided on Dec. 5, 2013 of sales between $90 million and $95 million, including a decrease of 8% to 3% in same-store sales.

Neil P. Davis, CEO of Francesca’s cited strong holiday performance for the increase in guidance.

The H&M flagship in Times Square is designed for maximum visual impact and customer engagement. The 42,500-sq.-ft. store has an ultra-modern, high-tech look, with talking mannequins and a digital runway (customers walk the runway floor, which triggers cameras that project their images and video onto LED screens on the store façade). In the children’s department, an illuminated carousel adds to the fun.  

Seattle — Nordstrom plans to open a 35,000-sq.-ft. Nordstrom Rack at The Greene Town Center in Dayton, Ohio, in the fall of 2014. Olshan Properties, formerly known as MPI, Mall Properties, Inc., manages The Greene Town Center.

Nordstrom Rack has four other locations in Ohio, two of which opened this past fall in Columbus and Westlake. Another Rack location is set to open at Sun Center in Columbus this spring. Nordstrom operates three full-line stores in Ohio.

Women’s apparel retailer Cato has made its debut into the world of online shopping with the launch of its first ever e-commerce site. The announcement came as the retailer reported holiday sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 4.
 
Founded in 1946, Cato operates approximately 1,100 apparel and accessories specialty stores throughout the United States. With so many brick-and-mortar locations, the ability to supplement in-store inventory with an e-commerce strategy geared toward a new generation of connected shoppers became crucial for continued growth.

Philadelphia -- Net sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 at Destination Maternity Corporation decreased 0.3% to $134.8 million from $135.3 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Same-store sales slightly increased 0.7%.