Department Store

Melville, N.Y. - Global Facility Management & Construction is naming two new members of its management team. Bruce Wollmuth has been named construction manager, leading a team of construction project managers.

By Evan Gold, VP of client services, Planalytics

The winter of 2014 brought record cold and snow throughout North America and its impact on business and consumer spending were widespread and significant. How impactful was it? Well, for the S&P 500 companies, the word “weather” was mentioned in almost 200 earnings calls from January through March, which is a 81% increase compared to last year.

Burlington, Mass. — Big Lots has signed a lease for 31,000 sq. ft. at Wonderland Marketplace in Revere, Massachusetts. KeyPoint Partners represented the landlord in the transaction.

Wonderland Marketplace is a 135,000-sq.-ft. shopping center anchored by Marshalls and Staples. In line tenants include Hair Cuttery, Ninety-Nine restaurant, and the U.S. Post Office. The Big Lots space is in a former Stop & Shop. Another 33,687 sq. ft. is available for lease in that building.

New York – Macy’s Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with profits of $224 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, up 3.2% from $217 million in the same quarter the prior year.

Earnings rose even as sales fell 1.7% to $6.38 billion, from $6.39 billion. Same-store sales declined 0.8%. Increased operating income and decreased cost of sales helped boost net income, while severe winter weather took a toll on sales.

At a time when sluggish-to-modest industry numbers have seemingly become the norm, and a protracted economic recovery inches forward, the recent spate of seemingly good retail and economic news has industry analysts and observers like myself raising a collective eyebrow.

Sears Holdings plans to hire an investment banking firm to explore strategic alternatives regarding its 51% ownership stake in Sears Canada.

The strategic alternatives are said to include the potential sale of Sears Holdings’ interest or Sears Canada as a whole, according to a statement by the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company. In a separate statement, Sears Canada said its board of directors intended to cooperate fully with Sears Holdings in the strategic alternatives exploration process to achieve full value for all shareholders.

New York -- Kohl’s Department Stores and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions have teamed up with Plug and Play to participate in Plug and Play Retail, an accelerator program that is focused on technologies and teams innovating in the retail industry. (Based in Sunnyvale, California, Plug and Play is a business accelerator that specializes in growing tech startups.)

The nation’s leading department store retailer overcame weak first quarter sales to muster a 3.2% profit improvement and expressed confidence in its performance the remainder of the year.

The company’s first quarter earnings per share of 60 cents was a penny better than analysts forecast and a 9% improvement from prior year earnings of 55 cents. However, sales declined 1.7% to nearly $6.3 billion while same store sales, excluding sales from departments licensed to third parties, fell 1.6%.