Department Store

Seattle – Nordstrom Inc. plans to open two new Nordstrom Rack stores in Pittsburgh and Novi, Michigan. The 40,000-sq.-ft. Pittsburgh store is scheduled to open in fall 2016 at The Block Northway mall.

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay Company’s net profit in the fourth quarter jumped to C$111 million (USD $88.9 million) from C$37 million ,in the year-ago period, helped by strong digital sales, the successful integration of Saks Fifth Avenue and the strong U.S. dollar. The retailer said it plans to accelerate openings of Saks’ off-price Off 5th brand and strengthen its digital and omnichannel capabilities in its current fiscal year.  

In a column I wrote between Black Friday and Christmas last year, I talked about how “apparel sales have been languishing”, and I mentioned that the “industry buzz is all about the struggles in apparel, where retailers just can’t seem to discount clothing enough to get things to pick up.”

New York -- The United States is the top market for e-commerce, followed by China and the United Kingdom, according to A.T. Kearney’s 2015 Global Retail E-Commerce Index. Although e-commerce remains less than 10% of total retail sales in the United Sates, it has seen consistent growth, and rose by 15% in 2014.

New York -- Legendary Manhattan off-price retailer Century 21 will open its first store outside its Northeast home base, at Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise, Florida. The 85,000-sq.-ft. store is set to open in the fall of 2016.

Seattle - Nordstrom has implemented new Oracle Retail Merchandise Operations Management and Oracle Retail Store Inventory Management solutions to support its expansion in Canada. The retailer plans to roll out the latest releases of these Oracle Retail solutions companywide to support its Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores.

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded its 2015 Energy Star Partner of the Year — Sustained Excellence Award to Kohl’s Department Stores and Staples in recognition of the companies’ continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency initiatives.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- CBL & Associates Properties and Horizon Group Properties have begun construction on the second phase of The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass, near Louisville, Kentucky.

The 53,400-sq.-ft. expansion is scheduled to open this November and will bring eight more retailers to the center including H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, The Limited Outlet, and Johnny Rockets. The outlet shopping center, located off Interstate 64 between Louisville and Lexington, opened July 31, 2014.