Department Store

Lexington, Ky. --CBL & Associates Properties announced the opening of the expansion at Fayette Mall in Lexington, Ky. Designed to significantly enhance the offerings at the shopping center, the redevelopment of the former Sears location included expanding the mall entrance to create 115,000 sq. ft. of new retail space for a mix of fashion stores, home furnishings and fine dining options in the heart of the shopping center.

Arlington, Virginia –- Brick-and-mortar retailers have at least one good piece of news to cheer them up this fall. U.S. same-store retail sales were up 1.3%, or $3.9 billion, in October 2014, driven by a 2.2% increase in dollars per transaction, according to data from the Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) Index and historical U.S. Census data.   

Dallas -- X Team International announced that partner Venture Commercial Real Estate completed the sale of two properties in Richardson, Texas and Waco, Texas, representing more than 150,000 sq. ft. of retail space.   

Cincinnati –- Half of all consumers dislike the idea of all-day Thanksgiving store shopping hours, although younger consumers are more open to it.   According to a survey of 1,001 U.S. consumers by loyalty services provider Loyalty One, 50% say all-day shopping hours on Thanksgiving Day are a bad idea that detracts from the traditional celebration.  

Veteran apparel merchant Celia Clancy spent time at Bradlees, Walmart and TJX Companies. Now she is the newest member of struggling specialty retailer Body Central’s board of directors.

General Growth Properties has unveiled Adventure to Santa, a DreamWorks DreamPlace first-of-its-kind holiday experience that starts with Shrek, ends with Santa and seamlessly blends storytelling with cutting-edge technology.   

Old Bridge, N.J. -- An improved picture in both ‘big-box’ and smaller store spaces combined to push the retail vacancy rate along central New Jersey’s major shopping corridors to a six-year low of 7.6% from 9.8% in 2013, according to the latest study by R.J. Brunelli & Co. Looking back over the past 10 years, the 2014 figure compared with the high of 10.5% in 2011 and low of 3.4% in 2006.  

Plano, Texas -– Amid restrained consumer spending and warmer weather that dulled sales of seasonal merchandise, JCPenney Co. Inc. managed to shrink its third quarter net loss more than Wall Street expected in the third quarter of fiscal 2014, but missed projections with weaker-than-expected net sales.