Apparel

New York -- Overall spending over Black Friday weekend was expected to hit $57.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, which is down 2.8% from last year’s $59.1 billion. It was the first spending decline on a Black Friday weekend since 2009. But there was some good news for retailers: Online sales soared over the holiday weekend.

The NRF estimated that 141 million Americans shopped during the four-day weekend, up 1.2% from a year ago.

New York City has seen an influx of new retail this past year. Everyone has their favorites. Here are mine:

•  Alexander McQueen: The British fashion brand’s new Upper East Side flagship boasts a lavish design that is both strange and utterly romantic, with an attention to detail that mirrors McQueen’s signature stylings. Marble and ornate moldings, black marble floors, black lacquer and brass hanging racks are combined with a soft color palette. (747 Madison Ave.)

New technology makes paying the bill easier than ever for customers

Logic dictates that the easier it is for customers to pay for goods, the more likely they are to purchase them. Long lines, fumbling for cash or a payment card, and even the simple act of waiting for an associate to ring up a sale at a traditional fixed POS terminal are all impediments to converting sales from busy and distracted consumers.

Fitness and fashion are well met at Foot Locker’s newest retail banner, SIX:02. Targeting active, performance-minded young women, the lifestyle brand features apparel, footwear and accessories for a range of activities, from yoga to running to dance — and more.

“SIX:02 is a fitness-fashion destination,” said Mary Lynn Waite, senior designer, Chute Gerdeman, Columbus, Ohio. “The merchandise has crossover appeal in that it can take the customer from the gym to doing errands to meeting friends for coffee to lounging at home.”

Location: Cincinnati

Size: 1.1 million sq. ft.

Developer: Co-developed by Steiner + Associates and Bucksbaum Retail Properties
Major tenants: Dillard’s Department Store, CineBistro, a 135-room hotel, 220 luxury residential units and 100,000 sq. ft. of office space.

Status: Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2014 with the opening scheduled for summer 2015.

Disposition firm: A&G Realty Partners

Number of properties: 600

Locations: 95% in strip centers, with the balance in middle market malls across the United States

Status: A&G successfully terminated more than 300 leases. The balance had natural lease expirations.

Columbus, Ohio -- Big Lots announced the appointment of three general merchandise managers as part of realigning the merchandising organization into customer-centric categories of food and consumables, furniture and home decor, and seasonal, toys and electronics.

Trey Johnson was promoted to senior VP, general merchandise manager for food and consumables.

By Ike Boruchow, analyst, Sterne Agee, New York

This year, Black Friday gave us a taste of what to expect for the remainder of the holiday selling season: intense competition, deep discounts, and choppy mall traffic. Earlier store openings drove heavy traffic, which dissipated and then bounced through the day.