Department Store

Photo: Arthur Valdez

Modell’s Sporting Goods continues to grow its brick-and-mortar footprint. The New York-based company has added two more stores to its portfolio, one in Boston and the other in Philadelphia. Both stores are in prime locations formerly occupied by City Sports. (City Sports filed for bankruptcy in October 2016, and subsequently announced it would close all locations.)

In Boston, Modell’s opened an 11,000-sq.-ft. store on Boylston Street, in the city’s Back Bay area. It’s the retailer’s first outpost in downtown Boston.

Tommy Hilfiger will be inducted into the World Retail Hall of Fame at the 10th Annual World Retail Congress, to be held at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai on April 12-14.

Hilfiger introduced his signature collection in 1985. Since then, the business has grown from a single menswear collection to a global lifestyle brand achieving over $6.7 billion in retail sales in 2014. There are over 1,400 Tommy Hilfiger stores in over 115 countries.

The grand lady of Los Angeles retailing is getting a major facelift.

Taubman Centers is embarking on a $500 million remodel of Beverly Center this month that promises to transform every aspect of the iconic — and monolithic — eight-story center, which opened in 1982.

Design and architecture giant CallisonRTKL named a global leadership team in retail design that includes the appointment of retail veteran Ignaz Gorischek as VP. He is with the firm’s retail practice group, in the Dallas office.

This week I’d like to discuss the re-emergence of skyline signs, but first allow me to offer a quick thank you to the entire Chain Store Age and SPECS Show teams for executing a trade show I won’t soon forget.

Of course, I’m talking about last week’s show at the beautiful Hilton Anatole in Dallas, #SPECS2016.

Gordmans Stores plans to open a new store next month in its hometown of Omaha in April, the first of five new units apparel and home décor retailer has planned for the year.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store in O’Fallon, Missouri on March 5.

The 25,000-sq.-ft. store is located at the O’Fallon Walk Shopping Center, 30 miles west of downtown St. Louis along Interstate 70 between Lake St. Louis and St. Peters, on the southwest corner of Highway K and Feise Road.

The opening is part of the retailer’s 2016 expansion program, totaling about 70 new locations during the year.