Department Store

Target may have ruffled some feathers in the past with what some considered a lack of plus-size offerings. But the retailer seems to be making up for it now.

Target says it is launching a brand new plus-size line, Ava & Viv, which will be sold both online and in stores starting on Feb. 22.

Cary, N.C. – SAS Institute Inc. has recently completed rollouts of CRM, logistics and marketing solutions at several European retailers. For example, Milan, Italy-based online wine retailer Wineverse chose SAS Visual Analytics to increase customer insights and reduce supply chain costs that result in greater customer satisfaction.

Toronto – Sears Canada is reaching out to Target’s Canadian employees. The retailer is encouraging the 17,600 workers who will likely lose their jobs when Target exits the Canadian market later this year to apply for jobs online.

Sears Canada also plans to host job fairs for soon-to-be-laid-off Target employees across Canada, and will host a meet-and-greet for Target Canada head office employees with senior executives and HR experts at its corporate headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 21.

The obituary for the printed retail catalog might have been a bit premature, if J.C. Penney is correct.

The retailer is reportedly bringing back its big glossy paper catalog after new evidence surfaced suggesting that print catalogs drive sales, the Wall Street Journal reports.

New York -- Barnes & Noble announced that Mitchell Klipper, CEO of the retail group, will retire at the end of the fiscal year, ending May 2, but will remain with the company in the role of special advisor on real estate and other matters. Klipper, a 28-year veteran of the chain, previously served as the retailer’s COO and CFO before being appointed chief executive.

The retailer said it has begun a search to fill Klipper’s position and that he will help with the selection of the new retail CEO and in the transition process.

Melville, N.Y. -- A&G Realty Partners has been retained by Delia’s Inc. to manage the sale of the 71 retail store leases following the company’s recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
 
A&G Realty is currently accepting bids thru February 2, 2015 to acquire the leases, which range from 3,000 sq. ft. to 5,000 sq. ft. in key retail locations at some of the country’s top malls.

Columbus, Ohio –  Express Inc. and private-equity firm Sycamore Partners announced that, despite having worked together in good faith towards a transaction during the past several months, discussions regarding Sycamore’s expressed interest in acquiring Express have been terminated. The companies said that discussions were halted due to the unavailability of financing on commercially acceptable terms.

In June, Express said it had been approached by Sycamore about a potential deal. Sycamore Partners has a 9.8% stake in Express.

Plano, Texas – Meet the new catalog, same as the old catalog. The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is reportedly bringing back its print catalog, often referred to as the “big book,” which the retailer discontinued in 2010.