Apparel

NEW YORK  — Spanish retailer Zara is giving consumers greater access to its European style with the launch of its first U.S. e-commerce site. 

Dickson City, Pa. -- Conshohocken, Pa.-based Metro Commercial announced Tuesday that it has brokered a 52,450-sq.-ft. lease for Hobby Lobby Stores at Kohl’s Plaza in Dickson City (Lackawanna County), Pa., about eight miles northeast of Scranton.

Construction on the space is currently underway and the new location is expected to open in February 2012.

The new location is Hobby Lobby’s fifth in Pennsylvania.
 

Armonk, N.Y. -- Apparel sales are expected to post year-over-year gains during the fall shopping season (August, September and October), with especially big increases in children's apparel, according to an analytics-based forecast by IBM.

Sales in children's apparel this fall are expected to total $2.6 billion, an 11.1% increase over the prior-year period. Women's apparel sales are projected to total $9.2 billion, up 3.1% over last year.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Retail same-store sales held steady with a 4.9% gain in August as retailers reported mostly solid back-to-school results at the same time sales at department stores were hurt by the impact of Hurricane Irene and weaker spending plans by shoppers, Kantar Retail reported on Thursday. However, shoppers plan on reducing their spending over the next few months, the company reported.

Riverside, Calif. -- Chicago-based General Growth Properties said that its Galleria at Tyler mall property, located in Riverside, Calif., has named Christina Riojas as its marketing manager.

Riojas' marketing duties will include the coordination and implementation of strategic advertising, public relations, budgeting, retailer relations and special events.  She most recently comes from Lake Elsinore Outlets (Lake Elsinore, Calif.) as marketing director.

PURCHASE, N.Y. — The apparel, e-commerce, grocery, and luxury segments all showed continued growth in August, as the hardware, restaurant, and automotive repair sectors returned to positive territory, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, a macroeconomic report tracking national retail and services sales.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Kronos said Tuesday that its latest Kronos Retail Labor Index, which characterized the current state of the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector for the month of August, was unchanged from the month prior. The index, which defines the ratio of hires to applicants within a given month, expressed as a percentage, was unchanged at 3.5% in August 2011, as both hires and applications increased slightly, all on a seasonally adjusted basis.

In Fall 2001, Steiner + Associates and Georgetown Co. completed the second phase of mixed-use trendsetter in Easton Town Center, Columbus, Ohio -- and a decade later, the 1.7-million-sq.-ft. development stands as testament that the right project in the right location with the right uses can survive even the most trying economic conditions.

Chain Store Age talked with Yaromir Steiner, CEO of Columbus-based Steiner + Associates, about Easton’s staying power during a recession, and its continued evolution as it strives to remain relevant.