Apparel

Seattle -- The weekend before Christmas ranked as the busiest shopping period in December by in-store visits to top retailers, with Super Saturday ranking among the three busiest shopping days for Walmart, Target, Toys ‘R’ Us, Macy’s and Kohl’s, according to Placed.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to open a Nordstrom Rack in South Portland, Maine.

The approximately 30,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open this spring at Maine Crossing Shopping Center and will be the retailer's first location in the state. It will occupy the former Old Navy space. 

An annual holiday e-retail satisfaction report produced by analytic's firm ForeSee showed considerable improvement at Target this year following a challenging 2011.

Amazon.com, LLBean.com and QVC.com were the top three retailers on ForeSee’s Annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction survey while Target was in the upper one third of companies analyzed.

SEATTLE — Nordstrom plans to open another new Rack store this spring in Maine as the number of off price locations now exceeds the company’s full price stores.

The approximately 30,000-sq.-ft. store at Maine Crossing Shopping Center will be its first location in the state, and is scheduled to open this spring.

Atlanta -- CBL & Associates Properties and Horizon Group Properties announced that their jointly owned Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta will open one month earlier than previously announced – or on July 18, 2013.

Located in the North Atlanta suburb of Woodstock, Ga., the 370,000-sq.-ft. initial phase of the center will feature such designer outlet names as Nike, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH, Bose, Brooks Brothers, Columbia Sportswear, Cole Haan, White House|Black Market, Guess, Fossil, Michael Kors, Under Armour, and Talbots.  

Amazon.com, LLBean.com and QVC.com were the top three retailers on ForeSee’s Annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction survey.

Total losses attributed to retail shrinkage hit $34.5 billion last year, “positioning retail crime as the largest form of property crime,” according to Dr. Richard Hollinger, professor of criminology, law and society, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla. And it shows no signs of easing anytime soon. Indeed, the rate of shrink remains on a five-year climb, according to the Loss Prevention Research Council (LPRC), Gainesville, Fla.

When UGG Australia began evaluating how shoppers wanted to engage with its brand, the footwear company — best known for its popular sheepskin boots — decided to augment its wholesale channel and digital presence with freestanding brick-and-mortar stores.

“Retail [freestanding stores] allows Deckers to showcase the UGG product in ways that many of our partners may be unable [to do],” said Yul Vanek, VP information technology for Deckers Outdoor, the Goleta, Calif.-based parent of UGG, Teva and other banners.