Department Store

Hollywood, Calif. – On Sept. 26, 2013, the board of directors of Frederick’s of Hollywood Group Inc. received a non-binding proposal letter from a consortium of HGI Funding LLC, TTG Apparel, LLC, Tokarz Investments, LLC, Fursa Alternative Strategies LLC, and Arsenal Group LLC to acquire all of the outstanding shares of its common stock.

Montreal -- Luxury jewelry store operator Birks & Mayors Inc. announced that effective Oct. 1, its corporate name will be changed to Birks Group Inc. and its ticker symbol will be changed to BGI.

Hamilton Township, N.J. — A 13,640-sq.-ft. Petco has opened at Hamilton Plaza in Hamilton Township, N.J., according to Levin Management, which manages and leases the 175,515-sq.-ft. property. Ripco served as the tenant’s broker in the transaction.

Saks Off 5th has launched its online store, saksoff5th.com. It joins a list of closeout retailers that are getting comfortable in the e-commerce market. The online store will offer up to 55% off merchandise year-round.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue was able to reach nearly 100% display compliance at its 8th floor shoe department in their flagship New York City store with the TrueVUE Inventory Display Execution application from Tyco Retail Solutions. Using a handheld RFID reader, associates can inventory shoes daily and generate an actionable report of all missing display shoes to replenish. 

Macy’s has announced plans to hire 83,000 seasonal employees at its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide for the 2013 holiday season, representing a 3.8% increase from last year’s 80,000 seasonal hires. 

Cincinnati -- Macy’s, Inc. plans to hire seasonal associates for approximately 83,000 positions at its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide for the 2013 holiday season. The company’s 2013 seasonal hiring plan will bring on approximately 4% more temporary workers than the 80,000 holiday employees it hired in 2012.

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is forecasting a 3.4% sales increase for the traditional November-December holiday period from last year — which spells good news for retailers. 

ICSC also anticipates that the other two measures of U.S. industry holiday sales — shopping-center inclined sales +3.4%, and chain-store sales +2.0 — will both increase over last year.