Department Store

Washington, D.C. -- Combined Properties and its joint venture partner Saban Capital Group have acquired The Terraces, a 173,000-sq.-ft. community shopping center in Rancho Palos Verdes, a suburb of Los Angeles. Spread across three terraced levels, center retailers include Trader Joe’s, Marshalls, LA Fitness and Starlight Cinemas.

The joint venture between Combined Properties and Saban Capital Group is assembling a $200 million portfolio of value-add retail centers in Southern California and the Washington, D.C., metro market.

China -- China once again topped the A.T. Kearney’s 2013 Retail Apparel Index, which measures the market readiness of developing economies for international apparel retailers to enter. Other compelling expansion opportunities are offered by a number of countries from Latin America and the Middle East.

NEW YORK — Saks Fifth Avenue and the Entertainment Industry Foundation have named actress Jennifer Aniston as the EIF ambassador for Saks Fifth Avenue’s 2013 Key to the Cure campaign. 

In the 14 years since the inception of the Saks Fifth Avenue charity shopping weekend, the company, together with its vendors and partners, has raised more than $33 million for cancer research. 

Cherry Hill, N.J. -- Canadian apparel retailers Dynamite recently opened at Cherry Hill Mall. The 2,800-sq.-ft. store is one of the retailer’s first locations in the United States and it’s first in New Jersey. The fashion-forward retailer has more than 250 stores.

Owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, the 1,306,800-sq.-ft. mall is anchored by Nordstrom, Macy’s and J. C. Penney.

Located on the mall’s second-floor veranda, the 8,500-sq.-ft. store puts a California spin on the brand’s preppy, nautically-inspired heritage. A sunlit glass façade and a central skylight draws natural light into the space. The interior décor includes nostalgia-oriented custom art pieces and graphic prints. A 1964 Volkswagen Bug adds to the atmosphere.

Design: Tommy Hilfiger Store Planning, New York

Architect: O'Neil Langan Architects, New York

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Ross Stores has agreed to pay a $3.9 million fine to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for neglecting to inform the commission within a mandated 24-hour period that it sold or stocked in stores roughly 23,000 pieces of children’s apparel with drawstrings located at the neck or waist between January 2009 and February 2012. Sales of children’s clothing with these types of drawstrings has been officially banned in the U.S. since 2011 and subject to voluntary restrictions since 1996.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Southern department store Belk has selected 13 winners from nearly 300 entrants in the retailer's Southern Designer Showcase competition. Belk announced the winners at an event at its corporate headquarters.

"We are so excited to add these impressive designers to our Belk family," said president and CMO Kathryn Bufano. "This year's winners truly represent the Modern. Southern. Style. that we deliver to our customers every day."

New York  -- Los Angeles is on the fast track to becoming the largest city in the nation to move toward a ban on “single-use” plastic bags after the City Council passed a resolution barring their use in supermarkets, convenience stores and any big retailer, which would include Target and Walmart, that sells groceries.