Department Store

New York City -- Tommy Bahama will open its first store in New York City, on Fifth Avenue at 45th Street, according to The Wall Street Journal. The 8,500-sq.-ft. store is expected to open by the end of 2011.

The 89-store Tommy Bahama chain is a subsidiary of Oxford Industries, which recently acquired the Lilly Pulitzer brand.

San Diego -- Escalate Retail on Monday announced that discount department store chain Century 21 has successfully implemented Escalate’s Enterprise1 ERP solution for management of the retailer’s inventory, merchandising and financials.

Century 21 chose Escalate’s Enterprise1 to more effectively keep pace with the enormous amount of inventory that goes through the store every day.

The annual NRF Convention & EXPO has a strong history, and while the show’s early concept has evolved over the last century, its message remains the same: to bring together industry decision makers who want to find ways to drive their business.

Some attendees often question why NRF is held in New York City during January, when the weather can be downright brutal. But the reason is easy.

Amazon and Netflix are the top scorers in terms on online customer satisfaction, according to the sixth annual ForeSee Results E-Retail Satisfaction Index (U.S. Holiday Edition). Both had a score of 86 on the study’s 100-point scale, with 80 generally considered the threshold for excellence. Here are the study’s top performers:

New York City -- J. Crew is seeking $1.85 billion of debt to help fund its $3 billion buyout by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP.

Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group are arranging a $1 billion seven-year term loan, $600 million in senior unsecured notes and a $250 million five-year asset-based revolving line of credit, according to a commitment letter attached to a regulatory filing, Bloomberg reported.

By Craig R. Johnson

New York City -- BJ’s Wholesale Club is in the sights of private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, which may pursue a hostile bid for the chain, according to The New York Post.

The Los Angeles-based buyout firm may make a bid if no auction occurs in coming weeks, the report said, citing an unidentified person close to the situation. BJ’s planned an auction to sell itself after an earlier bid from Leonard Green, according to the newspaper.

Holiday shoppers continued to unleash three years of pent-up demand as the season winds up, on their way to setting a new record of over $521B, blasting through 2007’s pre-recession record of $508 billion, according to Customer Growth Partners. Based on CGP’s proprietary mall surveys and government retail data -- and despite Sunday’s Northeast blizzard -- the sales growth confirmed CGP’s +5% holiday sales forecast. [CGP’s data include e-commerce, unlike NRF, which excludes the same.]

Due to the blizzard in New York City and resulting travel delays, the deadline for entries in Chain Store Age’s 29th annual Retail Store of the Year design competition has been extended until Tuesday, January 4, 2011.

For more information/entry form, go to chainstoreage.com/retail-store-year-0 or e-mail [email protected].