Department Store

Slidell, La. -- Stirling Properties and CBL & Associates Properties announced new tenants and updates to Phase II of Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, Louisiana.

Newly signed tenants include: Books-A-Million, moving from its current location at Northshore Square Mall, will occupy 7,500 sq. ft. and is expected to open on March 3; Five Below will occupy a 8,024 sq. ft. space and is expected to open April 6; Allure Nail Spa, and LensCrafters are opening spring of 2016.

A brand best known for its whimsical neckties and smiling pink whale logo is opening a flagship in the Big Apple.

Vineyard Vines will open a 6,000-sq.-st. store in Grand Central Station. The company is also slated to open stores at Somerset Collection, Troy, Michigan, in early May, at Hyde Park in Tampa, Florida, in August, and at Stanford Town Center in mid-March and The Village of Corte Madera in mid-June (with the latter two locations in California).

Demand for shares of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is such that the retailer has increased the size of a secondary offering.

Retailers used to be able to count on Americans spending every penny of their tax refund, but that’s not the case anymore according to new research from the National Retail Federation.

Demand for shares of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is such that the retailer has increased the size of a secondary offering.

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group announced that Mark Hunter has joined the company as managing director of retail asset services, the Americas. Hunter will assist CBRE in expanding its industry services for third party management of retail properties further into the mall sector. He will lead CBRE’s offering of services such as asset management, leasing, accounting, consumer marketing and development for malls generally exceeding 500,000 sq. ft.

Increased expenses and shrinking margins hurt Nordstrom profitability in the fourth quarter, but the leading department store and off-price retailer delivered on the e-commerce front.

Nordstrom said sales for the fourth quarter increased 5.2% to $4.1 billion and same store sales increased 1%. The company’s full price stores and Nordstrom.com grew sales 0.7% and same stores sales increased 0.2%. However, the growth was largely driven by Nordstrom.com sales which increased 11% and offset a 3.2% decline at physical stores.

The VF Corp. is adding some heavy duty retail expertise to its board of directors.