Department Store

If you’re like me and watch more TV than you should, you’ve probably seen the unusual new Target commercials with the hot air balloon. These “Color Changes Everything” spots feature a troupe of lively individuals landing in a hot air balloon (which, when seen from above, sports a gigantic version of the distinctive Target bullseye logo) and cavorting through an urban setting in acrobatic fashion, magically transforming the clothing, accessories and household goods of the people they encounter into stuff that is brighter, hipper and generally cooler and more fun.

Virginia Beach, Va. -- Divaris Real Estate has announced several promotions within its sales and leasing divisions, as well as in its property management arm.

According to Gerald S. Divaris, president, Eric Bucklew, Krista Costa and Erica Meekins were all promoted to VP in the Virginia Beach headquarters of DRE.

New York -- Uniqlo announced that it will open a 29,000-sq.-ft. flagship in San Francisco, in the fall of 2012. The store, which will be located at 111 Powell Street, close to the Union Square shopping district, marks the brands’ first location outside of New York and will act as the epicenter for expansion along the West Coast.

Los Angeles -- CIM Group announced the acquisition of Block 37, a five-story retail center located on the State Street retail corridor in Chicago’s Central Loop.

Block 37 is located directly across the street from Macy’s State Street. It is also in the heart of Chicago’s State Street retail corridor, which boasts a significant concentration of National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places and Chicago Landmark designated buildings and attracts millions of local customers and tourists every year.

New York -- The average vacancy rate at strip malls across the United States edged down for the first time in nearly seven years in the first quarter, falling to 10.9% from 11% in the prior quarter, according to preliminary data by real-estate research company Reis Inc., Reuters reported. It was the first decline in nearly seven years.

But the firm warned consumer spending is still not strong enough to lift retail real estate out of its slump.

Armonk, N.Y. -- An IBM analytics-based forecast released Thursday expects that sales of home furnishings in the United States will shoot higher in the second quarter, with in-store sales increasing nearly 8% to $23.2 billion and online sales increasing 28.4%.

Combined in-store and online sales of home furnishings are expected to grow 16.6% in the second quarter.

San Francisco -- Westfield announced that Tiffany will open on level 1 of the center, next to Bloomingdale’s, in fall 2012.

The luxury jewelry will join just-opened tea purveyor Teavana, Danish footwear retailer Ecco and men’s apparel store Henri Hubert San Francisco.

Chocolate house Ghirardelli will open a new store -- Chirardelli Ice Cream & Chocolate Shop -- in April, and Marbles: The Brain Store will open in the summer.

Francesca’s Collection is under construction.

Toronto -- A spokesman for the Canadian Heritage Minister said Thursday that the government will conduct a review of Target’s store opening plans in the country to ensure its books, DVDs, music and other cultural products have enough Canadian content.

The review, which comes as Target is laying the groundwork to open in 2013 the first of 125 to 135 stores in former Zellers locations, falls under a “cultural heritage” provision in Canada’s foreign-takeover law.