Department Store

New York -- More than half of consumers will spend more for the Halloween holiday than they’ll spend for either Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, according to the 2014 Halloween Happenings Survey by Alliance Data Retail Services, which manages credit card programs.

Some highlights include:

• 67% of consumers buy Halloween candy that they like, in case they want to enjoy a few treats before the tricksters ring the bell.

Hhgregg plans to hire more than 450 home electronics and home appliances salespeople this holiday season to support its 228 stores.

New York -- Woolrich, the Pennsylvania-based outwear and lifestyle brand, has opened its first-ever freestanding store, in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The move follows the recent opening of three Woolrich stores in Europe, including a store in Hamburg, Germany, and Prague.

Dublin, Calif. – DD’s Discounts, a division of Ross Stores Inc. will open its first store in Oklahoma, on Sept. 27. The store is located in the Windsor Hills Center in Oklahoma City.  

Including this new location, DD’s Discounts will operate more than 150 locations in 15 states and is on schedule to complete its expansion plan to open approximately 20 locations in 2014.

New York – More than 100 retailers, including Macy’s and J.C. Penney, have reportedly joined forces with the New York Police Department to create the Metropolitan Organized Retail Crime Alliance. According to the New York Daily News, the alliance will share information on criminals and scams targeting retailers and their customers.

The spiffy new look Walmart store associates are sporting these days is drawing complaints from some quarters who think the company went too far in striving for a modest degree of uniformity in the appearance of employees.

Apparently, it is now too much for Walmart to require employees to dress a certain way while they are at work with the dispute centering on what constitute a uniform versus a dress code and whether Walmart should pay for the clothes employees wear to work.

New York -- L.L. Bean plans to open a 29,000-sq.-ft. store in Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota, the Star-Tribune reported. It will be the Freeport, Maine-based retailer’s first ever location west of the Mississippi River.

The store will be an anchor tenant in the mall, taking over a former Bloomingdale’s location, the report said.
 

Northbrook, Ill. - Pine Tree Commercial Realty LLC has acquired Riverbend Marketplace, a regional shopping center located in Asheville, North Carolina, in partnership with Wanxiang America Real Estate Group. The 142,617-sq.-ft. shopping center is shadow-anchored by Walmart, anchored by Kohl’s and Petsmart, and features 110,715-sq.-ft. of national best-in-class retailers.