Department Store

New York -- RCS Real Estate Advisors announced it has been retained by Hancock Fabrics, debtor-in-possession, to generate value for the estate through the sale of leases. RCS Real Estate Advisors senior VP Spence J. Mehl made the announcement.

Sports Authority is taking steps towards filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to Bloomberg.

The retailer has a debt payment due in 10 days and in talk with its lenders about a reorganization plan under which it would close as many as 200 of its more than 450 stores, the report said.

Sports Authority reportedly skipped a $20 million in interest payment in January on a $343 million loan. It has 10 days to make the payment.

JCPenney is pursuing a possible sale and partial leaseback of its headquarters building in Plano, Texas, as part of an ongoing effort to reduce debt and manage expenses.

The company announced Friday that a combination of favorable market conditions and a surplus of available square footage within the building make this an attractive real estate opportunity.

Retailers may find themselves banished to the Island of the Misfit Toys if they do not improve their handling of returned holiday purchases.

According to new data from Kurt Salmon, it took an average of 13.3 days for retailers to credit returns to accounts during the 2015 holiday season. This marked an improvement from the prior year’s 16.8 days, but still far from customers’ expectation of about seven days.

J.C. Penney is pursuing a possible sale and partial leaseback of its headquarters building in Plano, Texas, as part of an ongoing effort to reduce debt and manage expenses.

The company announced Friday that a combination of favorable market conditions and a surplus of available square footage within the building make this an attractive real estate opportunity.

L Brands raised its profit outlook for the year after reporting record sales in the fourth quarter.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, the company had net sales of $4.395 billion, an increase of 8% compared to $4.069 billion for the quarter ended Jan. 31, 2015. Same store sales increased 6%. Net sales for the year ended Jan. 30 were $12.154 billion, an increase of 6% compared to $11.454 billion for the year ended Jan. 31, 2015. Same store sales for the year ended Jan. 30 increased 5%.

Longtime Amazon executive Steve Kessel, whose team launched the first Kindle e-reader, is leading a retail store initiative at Amazon, ReCode.net reported. The report references two sources familiar with the plans, and states: “It’s not yet clear what those stores will sell or how they will be formatted, but the retail team’s mission is to reimagine what shopping in a physical store would be like if you merged the best of physical retail with the best of Amazon.

Positive trends with its online business were not enough to help Kohl’s offset in-store weakness and intense competition, which pressured profits and caused a significant downward revision in guidance.

Kohl’s said its fourth quarter same-store sales increased 0.4% while the digital business grew 30%. Full year same store sales increase 0.7%.