Apparel

How good was the 5.3% same-store sales increase Target reported for September? We know it was toward the upper end of the company’s official guidance that called for a low to mid single-digit gain, but according to Richard Hastings with Global Hunter Securities it was the company’s best showing in September since 2006.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- TIAA-CREF and CBL & Associates Properties have announced the closing of their $1.09 billion real estate joint venture to invest in market-dominant shopping malls.

TIAA-CREF has completed its investment in four of CBL’s market-dominant shopping malls: Oak Park Mall in Kansas City, Kan.; West County Center in St. Louis; CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville; and Pearland Town Center in Pearland, Texas.

New York City -- Bloomingdale’s 520,000-sq.-ft. Manhattan flagship is undergoing a 100,000-sq.-ft. renovation, Women’s Wear Daily reported, with bridge, contemporary, home, shoes, fine jewelry and parts of the designer floor included in the remodel.

The project is estimated to cost $50 million, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
 

Satellite Beach, Fla. -- Lighting Science Group is performing an LED lighting upgrade for Villa, the Philadelphia-based urban-inspired apparel and footwear retailer. Villa estimates the lighting upgrade will pay for itself in one to two years, with energy and maintenance savings continuing to shave costs from its bottom line going forward.

Beachwood, Ohio -- DDR Corp. announced Friday plans to redevelop four shopping centers by adding two new Walmart stores in Florida and expanding two existing stores in Ohio and Puerto Rico.

"These projects will deliver desired growth opportunities to the world's most successful retailer and further strengthen DDR's relationship with its largest tenant," said Paul Freddo, senior executive VP leasing & development for DDR.

Sidney, Neb. -- Firethorn Mobile, Inc.! said Friday that outdoor retailer Cabela’s will use the Swagg Smartphone application, providing shoppers with mobile access to special retail offers and customer loyalty programs.

The app includes a GPS locater, providing customers with a localized merchant list and detailed description according to their current location. It will also feature user-generated cards, in which users can add their own cards such as AAA, American Red Cross, library, and local merchants.

New York City -- Footwear designer Jean-Michel Cazabat said he will open his first U.S. store on Oct. 8 in New York City's West Village.

A moderately better than expected 5.3 % September same-store sales increase was driven by broad-based gains in most categories nationwide, Target reported on Thursday. The increase was due almost entirely to larger average transaction sizes and came on top of a prior year increase of 1.3%. The company also noted that customer traffic as measured by comparable-store transaction increase a little more than 1%.