Department Store

NEW YORK — Macy’s announced that its Karl Lagerfeld capsule collection will arrive in about 235 Macy's stores and on Macys.com beginning Aug. 31.

“To me Macy’s is the perfect department store in the United States where everybody can find what they're looking for without ruining their budget,” said Karl Lagerfeld. “That’s why I am happy to make this limited collection just for Macy’s.”

New York City -- Target, Kohl's and J.C. Penney ranked highest among discounters in consumer perception in the first half of 2011, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The company interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year.

Here is YouGov’s Retail Buzz scores for discounters in the first half of 2011:

When the Supreme Court ruled that a sex discrimination case against Walmart wasn’t worth of class action status that was supposed to end things. Wrong.

WASHINGTON — NRF reported that total back-to-school spending on grades K to 12 is expected to reach $22.8 billion. According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School survey conducted by BIGresearch, families with children in grades K to 12 will spend an average of $603.63 on apparel, school supplies and electronics, within a few dollars of last year’s $606.40 average. 

NEW YORK — Kmart is changing its approach to fashion with a new campaign focused on individual style rather than name brands or trends. The campaign, titled "Money can't buy style," will debut this fall and will feature non-actors in Kmart looks they've created themselves.

PLANO, Texas  — JCPenney said Tuesday that its veteran marketing chief Mike Boylson has retired from the company. His successor will be selected by newly minted CEO Ron Johnson in what will be the former Apple executive’s first senior-level appointment at JCPenney.

Boylson was with the department store chain for more than three decades, the last eight years as chief marketing officer. He said in June he would retire from the company on July 1, according to a JCPenney spokeswoman.

Chicago -- Englewood Construction, announced it has completed construction on five retail projects in the Chicago and Washington, D.C., regions.

In the Chicago area, the firm finished construction of a 21,654-sq.-ft. Hhgregg store in Joliet, a 33,115–sq.–ft. Sears outlet in Naperville and a Mrs. Fields/TCBY Yogurt at Westfield Old Orchard shopping center in Skokie.
 

I’m not shedding any tears over the demise of Borders and neither is anyone else in the retail industry. It’s just business.

There are always a few sentimental customers who turn up with a choice quote or two in the formulaic media eulogies that appear whenever a retailer goes under, but those customers will just have to find somewhere else to sip coffee and read books for free.