Department Store

Dallas -- Neiman Marcus Group swung to a profit in the second quarter, helped by a 15% increase in online sales and its acquisition of Germany luxury online retailer MyTheresa.

The upscale retailer reported a profit of $27.8 million in the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with a loss of $84.0 million in the year-ago period. (Neiman’s loss last year was partially credited to expenses related to

Revenue grew to $1.52 billion from $1.43 billion in the prior-year period. Same-store sales and online sales rose 5.6%.

The biggest news at the International Home and Housewares Show didn’t involve a new product introduction, but rather an information sharing arrangement between The NPD Group and Nielsen that will help retailers and supplier make sense of the market.

Seattle -- Nordstrom will open a full-line store in the new regional shopping center being developed by General Growth Properties in Norwalk, Connecticut.  

The three-level, 150,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open in fall 2018 and will be the company's second full-line store in the state. The company opened its first Nordstrom in Connecticut in 1997 near Hartford at Westfarms Mall in Farmington.

Cincinnati -- Macy announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of beauty products and spa services retailer Bluemercury, for $210 million in cash.

Ross Stores is less than two months into its new fiscal year and already the company is halfway home on its 2015 new store growth plan and asserting its long term potential.

Ross confirmed that since the beginning of its fiscal year on Feb. 1, it opened 32 Ross Dress for Less stores and five dd’s Discounts stores in 15 states.

The company’s full year plan disclosed when fourth quarter results were released on Feb. 26, calls for 70 Ross stores and 20 dd’s Discounts stores.

Houston -- Simon is further elevating its signature Houston Galleria by investing in a $30 million renovation of the luxury wing in addition to adding a new Saks Fifth Avenue flagship, 110,000 sq. ft. of new retail space, and a 14,000-sq.-ft. freestanding retail building.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc., Petco Animal Supplies, Levi Strauss are the only U.S. retail brands to be recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company.

The annual designation, which recognizes organizations that foster a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the organization was given to 132 companies. The only other retail brands on this year’s list are Sweden’s H&M and the United Kingdom’s Marks and Spencer.

By Gregg Aamoth, CEO, POPcodes

The onset of 2015 marked a huge change in shipping costs, and as a result retailers are struggling to find ways to maintain their bottom lines. As of Jan. 1, packages are now being evaluated by their “dimensional weight,” or volume, instead of determining price by weight alone. Experts say that the when combined with other annual rate hikes and surcharges, the resulting average rate increases will be as high as 30% or more.