Skip to main content

Department Store

  • New online tax legislation proposed

    Various forms of online sales tax legislation have been introduced in Congress over the past 15 years but none have won passage. And now there is a new proposal.     

  • READY FOR FALL

    There’s no getting around it: It’s been a long, hot summer for the retail industry, one that many retailers will be happy to see end.

    From the liquidation of The Sports Authority and Hancock Fabrics to the downsizing of Macy’s and Office Max (to name a few), the past few months have been full of angst as merchants struggle to find their way in a disrupted marketplace.

    The good news is that many merchants are rising to the task. They are making the hard calls, however painful, and investments necessary to compete in today’s omnichannel world.

  • Shop Talk

    TRENDING STORES: Hello Kitty‘s pop-up café, at Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, Calif., has been drawing crowds since it opened in July. It’s housed in a shipping container that’s been painted pink and refurbished with a counter and dining patio area, complete with bistro tables and pink-and-white striped awnings. Character graphics adorn the exterior and interior container panels. The café will remain open for a year.

  • Sears’ losses mount in Q2; accepts loan from Eddie Lampert

    Sears Holdings Corp. swung to a loss amid declining sales in the second quarter, and chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert stepped in with more financing for his embattled company.   Sears said it had accepted a $300 million debt-financing offer from Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc. The loan is secured by a junior lien against Sears's inventory, receivables and other working capital.  

  • Neiman Marcus debuts high-tech mirror for trying on sunglasses

    Neiman Marcus is making it easier for customers to select their sunglasses.      The luxury department store retailer is launching a new technology, called the Sunglass Memory Mirror, in partnership with MemoMi and Luxottica Wholesale NA. The mirror, which is really a digital screen, allows sunglass shoppers to better engage with the product and create shareable shopping experiences.     

  • STORE BARRICADES WITH CURB AND BRAND APPEAL

    High-quality, graphically interesting store barricades can turn an unsightly construction or remodeling site into a brand-enhancing billboard for a retailer. Chain Store Age spoke with Bob Putnam, the president and founder of Boston Barricade Company, about the evolving nature of retail construction barricades.
        
    How have retail construction barricades changed over the years?

    Thirty years ago, 98% of all retail barricades were constructed using metal framing and drywall. But today, that number is down to 35%.

  • In the cool, cool, cool of the city

    More and more these days, shopping center developers find themselves in the role of town planner. Once dedicated to creating pleasant spaces for people to shop in, they now are challenged to create places for people to live, play, eat and be entertained in. Build that, they’re told, and shoppers will come. But droves of millennials fleeing suburbs in search of more fulfilling urban lifestyles are giving developers an assist. In some cases, they’re hewing their own downtowns out of rough old sections of town. In others, old downtowns are remaking themselves to welcome this new city stock.

  • Construction begins on long-awaited center in Fresno

    The cranes have arrived at the 92-acre lot along Clovis Avenue in Fresno, California, to erect the parking garage at what will be Fancher Creek Town Center, and the locals couldn’t be happier.   “I think it’s super. We need something. You have to catch the freeway and go up north to get to anything,” resident Diana Williams told KFSN news in Fresno this week.  
X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds