Apparel

Chicago — Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, Old Navy and Carter’s have inked leases for space at The Mayfair Collection, a 270,000-sq.-ft. shopping center in Wauwatosa, Wis. Nordstrom Rack, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Ulta Beauty have also made lease commitments to the project.

HSA Commercial Real Estate, the developer, broke ground on the project in April. HSA Commercial is adaptively repurposing an obsolete warehouse development into The Mayfair Collection retail shopping center.

NEW YORK — Gilt, an online shopping website, has appointed Tracey Weber as chief operating officer, effective September 3. Weber joins Gilt from Citibank, where she was the managing director, North America Internet and mobile and global product.  

In her role as chief operating officer, Weber will have responsibility for many of Gilt's operations, including Gilt City, international, customer service and merchandise planning; she will also oversee several new strategic initiatives. Weber will report directly to CEO Michelle Peluso.

Weehawken, N.J. — The Swatch Group Ltd. has announced the expansion of its Tourbillon Boutique network into Seattle, Dallas and Las Vegas.

The Seattle location, in the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, features The Swatch Group Service Center. In Dallas, Tourbillon Boutique will open its first Texas location at NorthPark Center. In Las Vegas, the boutique will relocate to a 3,800-sq.-ft. space in The Shops at Crystals.

Washington, D.C. -- U.S. retail sales edged up 0.2% in July from June, according to figures from the Department of Commerce. This followed a 0.6% month-over-month boost in sales in June, driven by strong auto sales. The slower sales uptick reflected a drop in purchases of automobiles, along with furniture and electronics.

New York -- Jos. A. Bank Clothiers on Tuesday came under criticism from BeaconLight Capital LLC, which owns more than 1% of the men’s apparel chain. In an open letter to the company’s board, the investment manager called for a reorganization of the retailer's board and return of cash to shareholders, preferably through buy-backs.

WASHINGTON — Retailers had sales gains in many back-to-school categories like clothing and sporting goods but experienced surprising declines in home-based categories, including building materials and furniture stores, according to the National Retail Federation. 

The world’s largest retail trade association found that July retail sales — excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants — increased 0.3% seasonally, adjusted from June and increased 5% unadjusted year-over-year.

New York -- J.C. Penney Co. announced that activist investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has resigned from the board of directors of the company, effective Aug. 12. His resignation comes in the wake of a very public and heated campaign in which he called for the ouster of Penney interim CEO Myron Ullman and chairman Thomas Engibous.

New York -- Gap is celebrating its brand heritage with a fall global marketing campaign – Back to Blue – that is one of the broadest reaching in its history. The campaign spans outdoor, direct, social, in store, digital and also includes a return to television.