Department Store

Toronto, Ontario  — Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group and Toronto-based Calloway Real Estate Investment Trust announced they will develop the first Premium Outlet Center in Canada. 

The center will be located in the Town of Halton Hills, Ontario, just 15 minutes outside of Toronto. Construction is slated to start in spring 2012. 

Suffern, N.Y. — Ascena Retail Group Inc. said Wednesday that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 8% on increased sales at its Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice clothing stores.

The retailer, formerly known as The Dress Barn Inc., reported net income of $51.8 million for the three months ended April 30, up from $48 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 9% to $722.8 million from $665.5 million in the same quarter a year ago. Dressbarn revenue rose 5% in the quarter, and Maurices revenue jumped 17%. Justice sales rose 6%.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl’s Department Stores announced a long-term license agreement with Bobby Flay to renew the chef's exclusive line of home and grill products, which will be available in Kohl’s stores nationwide and Kohls.com beginning February 2012.

Las Vegas — The International Council of Shopping Centers has named Athleta, Smashburger, Aldi and Fossil as the 2011 Hot Retailer Award winners.

The annual awards, based on a survey of ICSC’s worldwide members, were presented Tuesday at the association’s global retail real estate convention, REConn.

Cincinnati — Macy’s Inc. said it will open two new stores near Chicago and Milwaukee, including its first-ever location in an outlet mall.

New York — Nordstrom Inc. is scouting out sites to expand into Canada, Dow Jones reported.

"We already know we have a lot of Canadian customers," Nordstrom spokesman Colin Johnson said in the report. Also, Canadians make up the biggest share of Nordstrom's international online customers.

Johnson did not give a timeframe when Nordstrom might make a formal announcement, but did say the company would start with its full-priced stores before opening any Nordstrom Rack outlets in the country, according to the report.

St. Louis — Brown Shoe Company Inc., which operates Famous Footwear stores, said Wednesday that its first-quarter earnings tumbled, despite rising revenue caused by higher costs.

The company earned $3.7 million, compared with year-ago earnings of $10 million. Excluding special charges for restructuring and other items, the company earned $7 million.

Revenue rose to $624.6 million from $597.7 million a year earlier. Revenue declined at the company's Famous Footwear and specialty retail operations, but wholesale revenue jumped 27%.

Dallas — Alliance Data Systems Corp., a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data, announced it has signed a long-term extension agreement with Victoria’s Secret, a subsidiary of Limited Brands, Inc., to provide private-label credit card services.

terms of the extension, Alliance Data will continue to provide end-to-end private-label credit card services for the Victoria’s Secret credit card from account acquisition to customer service.

Final attendance numbers aren’t available yet, and while RECon 2011 may not have been the really, really big show it was in 2007, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual Las Vegas convention was clearly a big event.

Pre-recession, the show attracted in excess of 50,000 retailers, retail service providers and shopping center executives to view the latest and greatest projects coming out of the ground. This year’s May 23 to 25 iteration didn’t pull 50k, but best guesses put attendance at over 30,000. 

Topeka, Kan. — Collective Brands reported that first-quarter 2011 net earnings were $26.4 million, or 42 cents per share, compared with $54.2 million, or 83 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2010.

The company reported that net sales decreased 1.1% to $869 million. Same-store sales were down 7.4%.