Department Store

New York City -- Looking for a hit list of the hottest new stores around the globe? Check out the 10 contenders below. The list comes from the folks behind the cutting-edge, London-based retail consultancy echochamber.com.

Forever 21, Times Square, New York City: This vast, 90,000-sq.ft. store has a sense of quality that is astonishing given its low price-points. The best feature is the exterior: an amazing interactive digital billboard features giant-sized virtual models who take Polaroid pictures of the crowd below.

New York City -- Hollister, the Southern California-themed brand from Abercrombie & Fitch, has opened its doors on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The 15,000-sq.-ft., two-level flagship boasts a double-height glass storefront that is covered with video screens showing a live feed of the surf back in Huntington Beach, Calif. It’s a striking effect that has passers-by lined up neck to neck.

Cleveland -- Lord & Taylor and Forest City Enterprises on Friday announced that Lord & Taylor will open a new, 80,000-sq.-ft. store to anchor Westchester's Ridge Hill, Forest City's outdoor retail/mixed-use development, currently under construction in Yonkers, N.Y. This will be the first new, full-line Lord & Taylor to open since 2001.

The new location will showcase the retailer's latest store design and will offer a mix of the best fashion, accessories, beauty and fragrance brands, as well as gifts and home accessories.

By David King, fulcrm.com

For many retailers, the “best customer” search has been an ineffective venture where the results haven’t warranted the time or expense, despite a host of different efforts. But this tantalizing target keeps pulling dollars out of budgets, dollars that could be spent on creating a more realistic and profitable approach to customers -- one that considers customers’ shifting behaviors and value.

Columbus, Ohio -- Kantar Retail said Thursday that same-store sales got a big lift to 6% growth in November from a strong promotional environment, as well as from an easy year-ago comparison period and shifting shopper spending intentions.

The sales-weighted composite for the 30 retailers reporting -- most of them apparel retailers -- was better than the 1.7% same-store sales gain last month and the 0.9% gain in November of 2009 for the same measure. (The calculations don’t include Walmart, which stopped reporting monthly results in April 2009.)

New York City -- Department store retailers enjoyed a strong November, with nearly all the leading chains topping analysts  projections.

Macy’s reported Thursday that its same-store sales rose 6.1% in November, boosted by a strong Black Friday weekend. The company raised its earnings guidance.

New York City -- The nation’s discount retailers and warehouse club operators posted strong sales in November, beating analysts’ expectations. The results were fueled by promotions and cold weather in some parts of the country, as well as strong Black Friday traffic.

Target Corp. said Thursday more shoppers came to its stores in November and spent more than a year earlier, helping to fuel a 5.5% rise in same-store sales during the month. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected a 3.7% gain.

New York City -- Retailers nearly across the board reported a strong start to the holiday season as their November sales were enhanced by aggressive discounting that started early in the month. Same-store sales rose 6% in November,  above the estimated growth of 3.6% and the year-ago gain of 0.6%, according to 27 retailers tracked by Thomson Reuters.