Department Store

Washington, D.C. – The holidays were at least moderately happy for in-store retailers. According to the Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) Index, in-store sales for the 2014 holiday shopping season were up 0.7% although sales decreased on Black Friday and Super Saturday weekends.

The number of transactions: actually declined 0.4%, but this was more than offset by a 1.1% increase in average purchase amount. Black Friday weekend retail sales were down -3.5%, while Super Saturday weekend retail sales were down -1.7%.

Things are not looking up at Wet Seal, which has announced that it will close 338 stores, or about 66% of its total portfolio, “on or about” Jan. 7, resulting in the termination of some 3,695 full- and part-time employees.

The struggling teen apparel retailer said the decision to close the stores was based on its overall financial condition and an inability to negotiate meaningful concessions from its landlords.

The company said the 338 stores represented approximately 48% of its sales for the nine months ending on November 1, 2014.

New York – Retail mall vacancies slightly rose in the fourth quarter of 2014, from 7.9% in the prior quarter to 8%. According to real estate research firm Reis Inc., the closure of 200-plus Sears stores during the year drove the increase, the first recorded since the third quarter of 2011.

Reston, Va. -- Retail e-commerce spending from desktop computers for the entire November-December 2014 holiday season totaled $53.3 billion, up 15% from the corresponding days last year.

Another mall-based retailer has announced that it is in default and struggling for survival.

Body Central Corp. announced that it is in default on $18 million in debt and is exploring strategic alternatives, the Jacksonville, Florida-based company said in a statement.

The company also said it is experiencing “significant liquidity problems,” and is exploring options, including a possible bankruptcy filing.

A 3.7% same store sales increase during the holidays has JCPenney feeling good about the continued growth of its business.

The retailer said same store sales during the nine week period from November through December increase 3.7%. That figure was on top of a 3.1% gain during the same period the prior year and was toward the high end of the company’s guidance range which envisioned comp growth of two percent to four percent.

New York – Brooks Brothers Group Inc. has selected the Asset Based Lending (ABL) Group of TD Bank as the joint lead arranger in a $250 million credit facility. The amount of TD’s commitment and terms of the financing were not disclosed.

New York -- In a deal that will greatly expand its luxury reach, Coach Inc. will acquire upscale footwear brand Stuart Weitzman Holdings from private equity firm Sycamore Partners. Coach will make initial cash payments of approximately $530 million to Sycamore Partners, and, in addition, will pay the firm up to another to $44 million in contingent payments upon hitting “selected revenue targets” over the next three years.