Department Store

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. is researching a possible move of its headquarters and 6,200 jobs out of Illinois, a company spokesman said Monday.

The retailer has had preliminary discussions with the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, where it is located, and has commissioned an economic impact study, according to spokesman Chris Brathwaite.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.  — Sears announced that it is launching its fourth annual Heroes at Home spring renovation campaign with Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership. Sears said that with the help of Rebuilding Together, it expects to renovate more than 300 homes across the country as part of the Heroes at Home program, which aims to improve American military families' lives by making necessary repairs, improvements or modifications to their homes.

Although revenues at Target last year increased 3.1% to nearly $67.4 billion, other big companies grew faster, and Target slipped three spots to 33rd from 30th in Fortune’s annual ranking of America’s 500 largest companies.

New York City -- Simon Property Group is set to sell its newly bought Prime Outlets retail shops in Jeffersonville, Ohio, as part of a deal with federal regulators that required it to sell one of two Ohio properties, the Dayton Business Journal reported.

Simon, which bought the 22-site outlet arm of Prime Outlets Acquisition Co. last year for $2.3 billion, was required to sell either the Jeffersonville site or Cincinnati Premium Outlets in Butler County amid concerns that it would gain an anti-competitive advantage in the market.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings said its that Sears Grand in Cape Girardeau, Mo., has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment.

Sears will battle it out against hundreds of other teams representing buildings across the country to work off the waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA's Energy Star program.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- Shopkick, a leading location-based shopping app, announced that all Crate and Barrel locations across the United States will offer walk-in rewards and special deals to shoppers simply for visiting. For shoppers, that means shopkick walk-in rewards are now available in 39 states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, up from three states at launch in August 2010.

The national rollout comes less than five months after Crate and Barrel initially launched its shopkick trial.

East Rutherford, N.J. -- Triple Five on Monday gave more information on its plans to transform the controversial and long-delayed Xanadu project in New Jersey’s Meadowlands Sports Complex, in East Rutherford, into what it promises will be “the world's largest and premier tourism, entertainment and retail destination, eventually reaching 7.5 million sq. ft.”

As thousands of retailers and shopping center owners and managers prepare to descend on Las Vegas for the International Council of Shopping Centers’ 2012 RECon conference May 22-25, we thought it appropriate to talk with a retail real estate expert about not only the state of the industry, but also what to expect from this year’s show. 

Senior editor Katherine Field talked with Mitchel S. Friedman, senior VP of New York City-based RCS Real Estate Advisors, to gain his insights about the show and the industry as a whole.

YORK, Pa. — The Bon-Ton Stores and menswear designer John Bartlett unveiled on April 27 the inaugural collection from the partnership announced last fall. The collections will be available in all Bon-Ton stores in August. 

City of Commerce, Calif. -- Los Angeles outlet shopping mall Citadel Outlets has named a new marketing team.
       
Traci Markel has been named marketing director and Simone O’Connor has been named marketing and special events manager.  The Citadel marketing team also includes Veronica Garzaro, marketing and domestic tourism manager, and Kristina Carlson, international tourism sales manager.