Apparel

Leesburg, Va. -- Dallas-based Cypress Equities and Kettler announced that luxury bowling alley and sports grill King Pinz has opened a 6,200-sq.-ft. expansion to its facility at Village at Leesburg, in Leesburg, Va.

The addition features a six-lane luxury bowling suite, plus High Rollers Lounge, a fully enclosed cigar bar and cocktail lounge.

With now 21,564 total sq. ft., King Pinz’ additional space increases the number of bowling lanes to 18.

When Washington, D.C.-based Madison Marquette took over the leasing and management duties for Granite Run Mall, located in Media, Pa., near Philadelphia, it launched an innovative program for soliciting shopper feedback.

New York City -- Sports Authority will open its first S. A. Elite stores outside of Colorado and California in two locations in the Chicago suburbs in November, according to Crain’s Chicago. As additional Elite store will open in Chicago’s Water Tower center next spring.

The stores will range from 11,000 sq. ft. to 15,000 sq. ft., and feature an edited collection of merchandise that emphasizes tennis, golf and yoga.

New York City -- Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, through his Inmobiliaria Carso SA investment fund, spent $8.8 million to up his stake in Saks, according to Bloomberg. 

Slim, who was Saks’s largest shareholder before the purchases and last acquired the New York-based retailer’s shares in April 2009, raised his stake to 16% from 15.7%, the report said. Slim has made it a practice to add to his investment holdings when the markets slump.

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc. announced that it plans to open its first stores in Vietnam and Guam through its franchise channel. In Vietnam, the first Gap stores will open this October followed by the first Banana Republic store in 2012. The first Gap store will open in Guam in 2012. The company first made its products available to consumers in this region last year through its international online shipping provider.

Washington, D.C. -- A survey released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation and conducted by BIGresearch showed that department stores, clothing stores and websites are expected to attract most of the last-minute back-to-school purchases.

According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School survey, the average family has completed 43% of shopping for K-12 students, similar to last year’s 43.2%. College students and their parents have completed 44.3% f their shopping, up slightly from last year’s 43.1%.

South Plainfield, N.J. -- Global Bay Mobile Technologies, a provider of mobile retail software, announced the deployment of its iPad Retailing solution in 300 Pacific Sunwear stores nationwide. The chain plans to implement the solution in an additional 100 stores by yearend.

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys"R"Us Inc. continues to implement its strategy of integrating its Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us units, announcing that it will have opened 21 new stores by the end of 2011. These new stores include 11 "R" Superstores and 10 Side-by-Side locations. As part of an ongoing effort to upgrade the company's portfolio of stores nationwide, the remodeling of 23 existing locations to the Side-by-Side format is also underway and will be completed by the end of the year, the company reported.