Consumer Electronics

Glendale, Calif. — Throughout the spring and summer, Glendale Galleria will open nine new stores and eateries including Armani Jeans, Blaze Pizza, Brighton Collectibles, Chipotle, Coach, Earthbar, Lolli & Pops and Zumiez.

They will join La Baugette, another newcomer, which opened its Glendale Galleria location back in February.

CROSSROADS

Location: Irvine, Calif., at the intersection of Culver Drive and Barranca Parkway. Average daily traffic is 43,000 vehicles.

Size: 334,000-sq.-ft. community center

Developer: Irvine Co. Retail Properties

A 19% fourth-quarter same-store sales decline and a steep decline in profitability prompted RadioShack to announce the closure of 1,100 stores while CEO Joseph Magnacca maintained the retailer’s brand equity remains strong and a profitability plan is in place.

Think brick-and-mortar retail is doomed in an increasingly digital world? Visit Sephora, where consumers line up to sample the dizzying array of beauty products. Watch as a bunch of excited kids go through the rounds at Build-A-Bear-Workshop. Listen as a pharmacist at Walgreens gives some advice to a harried mom whose kids are coming down with something. Stop in at H-E-B, Whole Foods Market or some other great supermarket and breathe in the tantalizing aromas. Fool around with the latest gadgets at Apple or one of the new generation of AT&T and Verizon stores.

Remember 2011 and 2012? Back then, the forecasters were saying that the economy would probably be sluggish through 2013. After that, starting in 2014, growth would return.

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack Corp. said it plans to close up to 1,100 stores, approximately one-fifth of its total, and also announced a disappointing holiday season and a wider quarterly loss. The shutterings will leave the chain, whose turnaround appears to be still far off, with over 4,000 locations, including more than 900 dealer franchise locations.

As a category of shopping center, open-air centers have been evolving ever since the days they were called lifestyle centers. New categories of tenants have evolved, along with new ways of creating compelling tenant mixes and environments. We asked three open-air owners to tell us about current and possible future directions that evolution may take.

The companies are San Diego-based American Assets Trust; Irvine Co. Retail Properties in Irvine, Calif.; and Columbus, Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust. Here’s what they had to say.

Atlanta - Michael P. Ryan, operational VP of Aaron’s Inc., has been named VP of franchising. Todd Evans, current VP of franchising, will be leaving Aaron's to pursue other opportunities.

Henri Rogers, senior regional manager for Aaron's Three Rivers region, will succeed Ryan as divisional VP of northern operations.