Apparel

Ross Stores has ambitious store expansion plans for 2016—and sees plenty of potential beyond that.

The off-price retailer opened a total of 22 Ross Dress for Less and six dd’s Discounts stores across 15 different states in February and March.

The new locations are part of the company’s 2016 expansion plans to add approximately 70 Ross and 20 dd’s Discounts locations throughout the year.

Lafayette, La. -- Stirling Properties and CBL & Associates Properties celebrated the grand opening of Ambassador Town Center located in Lafayette, Louisiana. The center is currently 97% leased and includes either first-time locations within Lafayette or Louisiana, or both.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store in Woodbridge, Virginia, on March 5.

The 25,000=sq.-ft. store is located in Prince William Square, on the northwest corner of Smoketown Road and Gideon Drive, 20 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

The opening is part of Ross’ 2016 expansion program, totaling about 70 new locations during the year.

Online luxury consignment retailer The RealReal continues to make moves in the physical world as it seeks to simplify how customers interact with its innovative retail model.

San Francisco-based The RealReal began establishing a direct physical presence last August when it opened an office in New York City to authenticate and accept goods for sale, followed by a location this past February in Los Angeles. And it has now opened a third location focused on jewelry and watches in Chicago.

With the retail environment changing so rapidly today, and technology impacting everything a store does, the role of the chief financial officer has become more important than ever. When I started recruiting in 1990, the business was much simpler — we hired retail executives based on a linear skillset and departments operated in individual silos. Today, it is much more complex, as the C-suite works in collaboration to keep up with an increasingly savvy consumer.

So, what then do you look for in a CFO today?

The off-price division of Nordstrom plans to open a new store in the nation’s capital, and another in Texas.

Nordstrom Rack will open at District Center in the heart of Washington, D.C. The approximately 37,000 sq.-ft., two-level store, is scheduled to open in fall 2016, will be the retailer's thirteenth Nordstrom Rack in Washington, D.C./Baltimore area having first opened in the area at Potomac Mills in Woodbridge, Virginia in 1990.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store in El Paso, Texas on March 5.

Leveraging its status as a leading lingerie retailer, Victoria’s Secret has released the 2016 edition of its “What is Sexy?” list compiled with social media input to support the launch of several new product lines.

An underground shopping arcade with cool stores and hip eateries is coming to one of the busiest subway stations in New York City.

TurnStyle is set to open in mid-April, on the subway concourse at the 59th Street Columbus Circle subway station in Manhattan. The 30,000-sq.-ft. center, the first major privatization of a New York subway station, is located along both sides of the 325-ft. long passageway from Eighth Avenue and 57th Street to the subway platforms at 59th Street-Columbus Circle. (The passageway is free to pedestrians since it is not in the fare zone.)

Signet Jewelers is already the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry and it plans to get even bigger in 2016 by accelerating new store and omnichannel growth.
 
Operating stores under banners such as Kay, Jared and Zale, Signet reported a 4.9% fourth quarter same-store sales increase, better than expected profits and said it would open more new stores in 2016 than it previously indicated.