Department Store

New Delhi, India  — A Thursday report by Bloomberg said that India will announce new rules for foreign investment in retail by April 2012, which will pave the way for Wal-Mart Stores and Carrefour SA to open stores in the country.

 “We are much further down the process than people think,” said Junior Trade Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in an interview with Bloomberg. “I think it is a huge opportunity” for India. 

Minneapolis  — Target Corp. on Thursday unveiled the first wave of the Zellers sites it will be taking over in Canada, representing 105 locations in all 10 Canadian provinces.  The vast majority of the sites will become Target stores after securing the necessary construction approval for extensive renovation. The stores will open beginning in 2013.

New York — Backed by an improving economy, a recent surge in jobs and ten consecutive months of rising retail sales, a broad range of retailers are poised to fill up empty retail spaces over the next 12 to 18 months, according to Colliers International,  the third-largest commercial real estate services company in the world.

Seattle — Nordstrom announced plans to close its Circle Centre store in downtown Indianapolis, Ind.   Opened September 8, 1995, the 216,000-sq.-ft.  location will close to the public at the end of business on July 31, 2011. 

The retailer will continue to operate a nearby location at The Fashion Mall at Keystone, Ind..  It will open  a Nordstrom Rack store at the Shops at Rivers Edge in September.

Philadelphia — Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT) announced that it has hired two new directors of retail leasing— Peter Elliott and Amy MacLaren.

Both will be responsible for the leasing of regional malls and retail relationships with key national tenants. 

Yonkers, N.Y.  — Forest City Enterprises announced that National Amusements’ Cinema de Lux has opened at its Westchester’s Ridge Hill mixed-use development in Yonkers, N.Y.

With 12 state-of-the-art auditoriums and wall-to-wall screens, Cinema de Lux also features the area’s first full-service restaurant, Studio 3. The opening comes just a few months before the first buyers prepare to move into their new homes at Monarch at Ridge Hill, the luxury condominium on Ridge Hill Boulevard. 

Chicago — Los Angeles-based Westfield announced that its Westfield Old Orchard shopping destination in Skokie, Ill., has added more new tenants to its offerings.

New York City — Robert K. Futterman & Associates said it has secured a 1,500-sq.-ft. retail space for women’s apparel brand WINK at 129 Prince St., located between Wooster and Prince Streets in SoHo.  

WINK, which currently has a store at 155 Spring St., is scheduled to open its new Manhattan location this summer.  

 The new store will join co-tenants Apple, Lucky Brand, Cole Haan, Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren.

Boca Raton, Fla. — Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group announced that Ann Taylor will open a new store at its Town Center at Boca Raton development in Boca Raton, Fla.

The retailer’s first new-concept store in Palm Beach County, the space features a runway of mannequins running down the middle of the store as well as a series of shops-within-shops.

Chicago — A report released by Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle found that the retail sector is edging toward recovery driven by growth in job market, gains in corporate profits and improvements in credit markets.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s North America Mid-Year Retail Outlook, the environment is still not without risk as rising fuel costs and a continued weak housing market, coupled with an increasingly volatile global geopolitical climate, continue to slow retail recovery as consumers remain tentatively cautious.