Department Store

New York –- Independent real estate firm RKF has arranged a 9,100-sq.-ft. lease for True Religion, a retailer of denim and denim-related sportswear, in the SoHo neighborhood of New York. Acting on behalf of the landlord, 513 Broadway LLC, RKF executive VP Ariel Schuster negotiated the transaction, offering 2,900 sq. ft. on the ground floor, plus two levels below totaling 6,200 sq. ft.   

The Bill Blass brand is in for a breath of fresh air with the arrival of celebrated designer Chris Benz as new creative director.

Reporting directly to Stuart Goldblatt,  Bill Blass’ newly appointed president and CEO,  Benz will be responsible for the overall creative direction of the company.

Benz brings to Bill Blass years of experience in the fashion industry, including designing for Mark Jacobs and J.Crew, as well as his own collection CHRIS BENZ, launched in 2007.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- Nicole Messer has joined the retail group of Stiles Realty as senior retail associate. In this role, Messer will focus primarily on developing third-party retail leasing and investment sales business in the Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami markets.  

On the heels of moderating expectations for its third quarter performance, Kohl’s announced plans to improve results during the holidays, including an around the clock opening schedule beginning at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Kohl’s will open its doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and remain open through midnight Friday, Nov. 28. The retailer will also offer a variety of omnichannel holiday services, including a daily “Today’s Deals” section on Kohls.com.

Lakeland, Fla. -- Retail Solutions Advisors (RSA) has been selected as the exclusive leasing representative for South Pasadena Shopping Center, a community shopping center situated in South Pinellas County, Fla. The 165,928-sq.-ft. center is anchored by Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, Bealls Outlet, Pet Supermarket, CVS and Dollar Tree, and serves as the primary grocery-anchored retail center for the surrounding residential community in the captive South Pasadena area.   

Retailers are in for a “humbug holiday” with a 3.4% overall increase in sales and a deceleration in e-commerce growth, according to a new forecast from retail industry consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners.

Montreal, Canada – Retail real estate firm Simon, private Canadian developer SmartCentres and Calloway REIT are celebrating the opening of Premium Outlets Montreal Thursday, Oct. 30. Featuring designer and lifestyle brands, the new centre has more than 80 outlet stores offering savings of 25 to 65% every day.    Many of these new outlet stores are unique to the Montreal metro area, including Michael Kors, Max Mara, The Hudson Bay Outlet, Desigual, Vans and many more.

Weaker than expected third quarter sales prompted Kohl’s to lower its profit forecast while noting that e-commerce sales increase 30%.

The company held an investor conference on Oct. 29 and said third quarter sales were expected to decline 1.4% due to softer than expected sales during October. The top line weakness caused the company to confirm that profits would be at the lower end of a previously forecast range of $4.05 to $4.45 a share.