Consumer Electronics

Shoppers are opening their pocketbooks for back-to-school spending this year.   Parents expect to spend an average of $1,642 on back-to-school expenses this year, up significantly from $1,239 in 2015, according to the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker report.   Parents are expected to spend more on musical instruments this ($267 vs. $194 in 2015), along with mobile devices ($172 vs. $125 in 2015).   

A start-up consumer electronics retailer has deployed a friendly-looking, white plastic robot named Pepper to greet shoppers.   In a two-week test, high-tech retailer B8ta is the first retail store in the United States to deploy the humanoid robot, which is from Japan’s SoftBank Robotics, Mercurynews.com reported.   

Consumers cooled their spending in July.    Retail sales were flat in July, in line with a revised 0.8% gain in June, according to figures released Friday by the Commerce Department. The report ended three straight months of monthly gains.     Sales in July rose 2.3% from a year ago. Excluding automobiles and parts sales, sales fell 0.3% in July — the weakest reading since January, after a 0.9% gain in the prior month.     

Bayer Properties’ plan for drawing shoppers to its new $156 million mixed-use development in Lexington, Kentucky, could be one that catches on in other rural regions: Recruit retail tenants that are not new to the universe, but new to the state.   So when it opens next spring, the retail roster at The Summit at Fritz Farm will include Bonobos, Cos Bar, Shake Shack, J. McLaughlin, Brooks Brothers, and — just signed this week — Marine Layer.  

Reducing credit and debit card fraud by implementing EMV chip card acceptance has become retailers’ top payment issue in 2016.    

It’s official: The long-awaited Westfield World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan is finally ready to open its doors.   Likely to become of the city’s most visited retail destinations, the shopping center will celebrate its grand opening on Aug. 16. With 365,000 sq. ft. of retail space, it will feature more than 100 global and local fashion, beauty, lifestyle and technology brands.  

Dick’s Sporting Goods is expanding its footprint in the Houston market.   The retailer is looking to open six stores this fall in the Houston area, up from the five it had previously announced, the Houston Business Journal reported.   In November, General Growth Properties announced it had signed lease agreements with Dick’s to open in five GG shopping centers in Houston: Baybrook Mall, Deebrook Mall, First Colony Mall, The Woodlands Mall, and Willowbrook Mall.

A curated selection of Sony entertainment products and technologies — some of which are still in the prototype stage — are on display at the new Sony Square NYC.    Located in the company's New York City headquarters on Madison Avenue, the 2,400-sq.-ft. store also will host consumer events, including photography classes, exclusive movie screenings and invitation-only performances by Sony Music artists.