Department Store

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings continues its efforts to reach more Hispanic consumers with the announcement that its Kmart brand has launched a Spanish-language miniseries on YouTube.

NEW YORK — Macy’s chairman, president and CEO is walking on air these days as the nation’s leading department store chain continues to deliver impressive results amid a recessionary economy that has other operators floundering for sales.

City of Commerce, Calif. -- Discount retailer 99 Cents Only Stores reported Monday that net income for the quarter ended July 2 rose to $17.7 million, from $16.8 million in the year earlier period.

Total revenue rose 6.3% to $368.3 million, from $346.5 million a year ago. Same-store sales rose 5.9%.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich. -- Shopping center owner Taubman Centers reported Monday that its Taubman Asia division will acquire 90% controlling interest in TCBL Consulting Limited, a Beijing-based retail real estate consultancy with seven offices in mainland China.

Philadelphia -- Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust announced that almost half-a-million sq. ft. of leasable space was signed or opened across its mall portfolio since the end of April.

According to PREIT, leases have been executed with J.C. Penney, Nordstrom Rack, Bravo Cucina Italiana and Forever 21 at Willow Grove (Pa.) Park, in the reconfigured space formerly occupied by Strawbridge’s.

Overall, there was an 8 % decline in the number of pages per market across the retailer set, and a 4% decline in number of inserts. Pages being down can be attributed to a steep decline in Kohl’s and Sears' number of pages per market, while the decline in number of inserts was due to Home Depot and Staples decreasing their drops.

Home Depot and Safeway adopted a similar strategy, reducing the number inserts per market in July 2011 compared with last year, while increasing the number of pages per market. 

Architectural firm GreenbergFarrow is designing 11 Broadway, a 161,570-sq.-ft., mixed-use property now under construction at Kent Avenue and Broadway in Brooklyn's Williamsburg section.

11 Broadway is a mixed-income building that includes both residential and commercial spaces. It was developed by L+M Development Partners, Inc. and continues the company’s work in providing high-quality affordable housing to emerging communities in New York City.

The outlet mall industry has undergone a major transition during the past decade and has never been better positioned for future success. This is a significant change from 10 years ago when a stale product mix targeted to a transient shopper base had raised serious questions about the viability of the outlet mall.