Apparel

Fort Worth, Texas — Trademark Property Co. has announced the opening of a 15,000-sq.-ft. DSW Designer Show Warehouse and a 35,000-sq.-ft. Havertys, a full-service home furnishings retailer, in Alliance Town Center in north Fort Worth, Texas. Both are scheduled to open Labor Day weekend of 2014.

Construction is scheduled to begin late this year or early next year on both stores. In addition, construction continues on several other tenants, including two new eateries scheduled to open this December.

A new process for sustainable sourcing called Dockers Wellthread was unveiled by Levi Strauss & Co. which integrates product design, environmental practices and worker well-being.

San Francisco – Gap Inc. reported increased net and same-store sales during the third quarter of fiscal 2013 in a partial financial release. Gap’s third quarter net sales grew 3% and same-store sales grew 1% compared to the prior year.

In addition, Gap’s same-store sales grew 4% in October 2013. The retailer will release full third quarter earnings results on Nov. 21, 2013.

Richfield, Minn. – Best Buy is the latest major retail chain to prepare for an early start to Black Friday. More than 1,000 Best Buy stores in 47 states will open their doors at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving night and stay open till 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29.

Dallas — CBRE Capital Markets arranged financing for the acquisition of a portfolio of 16 shopping centers totaling approximately 417,000 sq. ft. Located across the country, each of the 16 strip centers is adjacent to a Wal-Mart Supercenter shadow anchor. CBRE worked on behalf of the borrower, a partnership between Dallas-based Fountain Capital and Cheney & Mathes Properties, to obtain a 10-year, $41.6 million fixed-rate, non-recourse loan through the Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co.

Beloit, Wis. – Online coupon provider FatWallet predicts a larger selection and assortment of lower-priced Black Friday deals in 2013 as compared to the previous year. Notable predictions include:

Washington, D.C. – The National Retail Federation calculated retail industry job gains at 37,600 in October 2013, and 295,000 year-over-year, a 2.4% increase from 2012. Job gains were seen in every retail sector with the exception of clothing and clothing stores, which witnessed a contraction of 12,500 positions in September.

In its annual holiday sales and employment forecast, NRF predicted that retailers would see a 3.9% increase in sales and hire an additional 720,000 to 780,000 employees this holiday season.

J.C. Penney scored a major victory during October with same stores sales up 0.9%. That may not seem like much, but for a company that has been written off by many the meager increase offers an encouraging tailwind heading into what retailer’s nationwide expect to be a challenging holiday season.