Apparel

On a recent trip to Seattle, my luggage was lost and I found myself without anything to wear except for the clothes on my back. I urgently needed a suit for a business meeting and decided Nordstrom was the best place to start given I was in the retailer’s hometown.   

On March 7, Edward Stack, CEO and chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods, announced the company is dropping 20% of its brand offerings. This news is part of a larger redirection for the sporting goods retailer, one designed to optimize its inventory for increased sales.  

Things are looking up at RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware) which capped a busy year with better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter.    RH reported that revenue fell 9% to $586.7 million in the fourth quarter, beating analysts’ estimates.    

A former Spice Girl has a new career.   Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, is the co-founder of a new environmentally-friendly diaper and skincare online store, according to Retail Gazette.   

Plummeting retail occupancy rates have Manhattan landlords in a generous mood.   According to a Bloomberg report, Manhattan landlords are offering their retail clients such giveaways as interior redesigns and moving expenses to keep storefronts from going dark.  

Colliers International has announced the hiring of Wayne L. Kasbar as managing director in its Parsippany, New Jersey, office. He will focus on the retail sector.   Kasbar comes to Colliers from Silbert Realty & Management Company, where he oversaw the brokerage team covering New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. Prior to that, he spent five years at Trammel Crow, now part of CBRE, leaving there as VP of brokerage services.  

Nordstrom Inc. is expanding its supply chain management team.

Brent Beabout

 

A new deal could give Amazon a foothold in the Middle East.   Amazon has agreed in principle to buy Souq.com, a leader in the Middle East's online shopping market, according to a report in Reuters.   

MC Sports, a longtime fixture in the Midwest that filed for bankruptcy in February, has put leases on its stores in seven states up for auction.   The 58 stores range in size from 11,000 to 46,000 sq. ft. and are located in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Bids are due by April 7 to A&G Realty Partners, which is handling the auction.  

Three very different retailers earned the top score in a survey of customer experience.   Ace Hardware, BJ's Wholesale Club, and QVC deliver the best customer experience in the retail industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.