Department Store

Out with the old, in with the new at Macerich’s Santa Monica Place, in Santa Monica, California.      WithMe, an interactive brick-and-mortar shopping experience that features limited runs of traditional and pure-play retail brands, has opened three new fashion pop-ups in its flagship space at the mall.  

Saks Fifth Avenue’s new store in New York City is unlike any other the retailer has opened to date.

Located at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan, the 86,000-sq.-ft. store is decidedly smaller than most Saks’ locations. It feels more like a boutique than a department store, with some traditional departments, such as handbags eliminated. (Handbags and certain other products are grouped by brand as opposed to category.) It also boasts such new services as a “power lunch” offering.

Teens are returning to one of their former favorite destinations.
 
According to a survey by Willian Blair of teens and young adults, teens are visiting malls more in 2016 than they were in 2015, benzinga reported.
    

The nation’s largest specialty bedding retailer posted disappointing results on Friday for its second quarter.

Mattress Firm Holding Corp. on Friday reported a loss of $2.2 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue increased 48.2% of $980 million, which also fell short of Street forecasts, reflecting incremental sales from acquired and new stores.

Same-store sales fell 1.1%.

Pier I Imports is on the hunt for a new chief executive.   The home décor retailer said that its board of directors had  “mutually agreed” with Alex W. Smith that he will step down as president, CEO and a board member, effective Dec. 31, 2016. Pier I’s board is working with Korn Ferry to find a new CEO.  

Kimco Realty Corp. has purchased the remaining 85% interest in a four-property joint venture portfolio, a deal that includes the assumption of $103 million in mortgage debt. The company also announced it had acquired a Whole Foods-anchored center in the D.C. area for $95 million.  

Construction has begun on a 240,000-sq.-ft expansion of the Staten Island Mall, the largest shopping center in the New York City borough.   The multi-phase project will take two years to complete, and will add some 75,000 sq. ft. of space to Macy’s plus 40,000 sq. ft. for a new Dave & Busters and a 12-option food court. A new wing with a three-level parking deck is destined for one side of the General Growth Properties mall.  

Top suppliers don’t seem very worried about Macy’s looming store closings. And neither does the CEO of Gap Inc., according to a report by CNBC.com.   Gap chief executive Art Peck told attendees at Goldman Sachs' Annual Global Retailing Conference that he sees the Macy's store closures as an opportunity to grab market share, the report said.