Department Store

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Off-price retailer Ross Stores will celebrate the opening of its 1000th Ross Dress for Less store, in North Pleasant Hill, Calif., on July 16.

The new store is Ross’ 50th location in the Bay Area. The company operates more than 1000 Ross Dress for Less and dd's Discounts locations.

Shoppers face a lot of economic headwinds this back-to-school season, but one forecaster has seasonal sales growing by 6.2% to $467 billion, the most since 2006.

That’s according to retail consultants Customer Growth Partners’ annual BTS forecast, which defies warnings of a double-dip recession and sees American households as being more resilient with their back-to-school spending during the July through September time frame.

Columbia, S.C. -- Shopping center owner and developer Edens & Avant said Friday that Whole Foods Market will open a new store -- its third in South Carolina -- in the company’s Cross Hill Market retail center in Columbia, S.C.

The new store will be Whole Foods’ first in the capital city and will occupy approximately 37,876 sq. ft. in the 74,326-sq.-ft. development.

Boston -- WS Development announced that Aldi will open a new store at Stateline Shopping Center, located in Salem, N.H.

The new store, the grocer’s first in the state, will join a newly opened Lowe’s anchor, as well as Sovereign Bank and NAMCO at the recently redeveloped 232,000-sq.-ft. shopping center.

Bangalore, India -- According to multiple reports on Monday, India’s largest retailer has hired two former executives of Wal-Mart Stores’ China operations as its two top executives.

Reliance Industries Ltd., which operates 1,000 retail stores across India selling everything from produce to electronics, has named Rob Cissell as CEO of Reliance Retail Ltd. and has named Shawn Gray as COO.

Last week Janney Montgomery Scott analyst David Strasser downgraded shares of Target to neutral from buy. He offered a litany of things that could go wrong with the Target story, which were subsequently refuted by someone named Will Ashworth on the website “Investopedia.”

San Diego -- Centro Properties Group US said Tuesday that Carter’s has opened a new store in San Diego.

The 6,100-sq.-ft. store opened at Mira Mesa Mall, which is owned by New York City-based Centro Properties Group.
 

Such retailers as Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, JCPenney, Lowe’s and Walmart are part of an organization called the Coalition for Responsible Transportation (CRT) that is pushing a new approach designed to reduce emissions at the nation’s ports. The retailers along with Hewlett Packard, Nike and a host of leading transportation providers have teamed with the Environmental Defense Fund and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to launch a program called, “EPA SmartWay Drayage Program.”