Apparel

New York - Lululemon on Thursday will open  a 5,766-sq.-ft. flagship at Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif..  The visual centerpiece of the store is an intricately-laid domed mosaic ceiling—in a vibrant blue hue—that reads, "Breath deep & appreciate the moment."   The storefront boasts a colorful, two-story, illuminated glass corner.

Vera Bradley has announced a new head of store development as it looks to reimagine Vera Bradley into a premium global lifestyle brand.

Harry Cunningham, who has nearly 25 years of experience in store design and visual merchandising, has been with Saks Fifth Avenue since 2006 and most recently held the post of SVP of Store Planning, Design and Visual Merchandising. Prior to that, Cunningham held various visual merchandising roles at Liz Claiborne, Saks Department Store Group and Dillard's.

The cool kid might still be cool, after all.

Abercrombie & Fitch reported net income of $18.2 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to a net loss of $15.6 million in the same period the prior year and beating Wall Street forecasts.

However, not all of Abercrombie’s results were quite so positive.

Footwear is one of the hottest segments of retail these days and Boot Barn is ready to capitalize on the growing market.

The company reported a 7.3 percent increase in same store sales and reversed a prior year loss during its second quarter ended September 27, its first financial report since completing an initial public stock offering on Nov. 4.

Mahwah, New Jersey - Ascena Retail Group’s first quarter profit topped estimates as strong online growth helped make up for falling same-store sales. The company, which operates the Lane Bryant, Cacique, Maurices, Dressbarn, Catherines, Justice and Brothers brands, reported net income of $53.5 million, compared to $52.6 million in the year-ago period.

Net sales of $1.2 billion for the first quarter were flat compared to the year-ago period. Same-store sales fell 4% while online sales surged 16%.

New York – If you were looking for quality call center service from an online retailer during Black Friday or Cyber Monday, then you wanted to shop at L.L. Bean. According to data from analysis firm StellaService, L.L. Bean led in customer service call response time on Black Friday (10 seconds), Cyber Monday (six seconds) and Cyber Weekend (nine seconds).

L.L. Bean actually improved its call center response time compared to its month-to-date average. Other notable findings included:

New York – Black Friday was a more social event than Cyber Monday, with 3.5 million tweets and 838 million impressions compared to 839,000 tweets and 309 million impressions. According to a study from StatSocial, women were more likely than men to socially comment on both events, accounting for 59% of

Black Friday comments and 63% of Cyber Monday comments.

Armonk, N.Y. – Mobile traffic and sales trends indicate that Cyber Monday is increasingly becoming an event consumers take with them wherever they go. According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark data, Cyber Monday mobile traffic accounted for 41.2% of all online traffic, up 30.1% from 2013.  

Evansville, Ind. – Net income dipped to $10.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 from $10.9 million the same period the prior fiscal year. Net sales fared better, climbing 7% to $254.69 million from $235.77 million, ahead of previously issued guidance.

Philadelphia - Investors are feeling bullish on upcoming retail opportunities in Philadelphia, and it’s evident as JLL’s Capital Markets experts announced the sale of One and Olney Square on behalf of BLDG and The Feil Organization. Wharton Realty Group purchased the center.

Anchored by ShopRite, the community shopping center totals 339,784 sq. ft. and includes tenants such as Dollar Tree, Modell’s and Burger King.