Department Store

Nashville, Tenn. — Pottery Barn has leased 12,684 sq. ft. in Hill Center Green Hills, a 220,000-sq.-ft. mixed-use open-air lifestyle center in Nashville, Tenn. The lease is with Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn’s parent company.

Owner and developer H.G. Hill Realty Co. www.hghill.com, plans to begin redeveloping Hill Center Green Hills early in 2015. Pottery Bar expects to begin its build-out in the fall of 2015.

White House | Black Market creates a welcoming ambience at its store in Yorkdale Centre, Toronto, the company’s first location outside the United States. The 3,063-sq.-ft. space has the look and feel of an intimate boutique.

Union, N.J. -- Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has provided preliminary information on its fiscal fourth quarter 2013, including the impact of adverse weather conditions during the period. The company's same-store sales for the fiscal fourth quarter increased by approximately 1.7% as compared with its previous model of an increase of approximately 2% to 4%.

Kmart and Sears are among a group of companies identified as “the least engaging brands of 2014,” in a recently released index of customer loyalty.

"A brand can't do well in today's marketplace if it can't engage consumers, no matter how many ads are run, and no matter how much social networking one does," said Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys, a New York-based brand loyalty and emotional engagement research consultancy.

Plano, Texas – Two major J.C. Penney Co. Inc. executives who left the company in April 2013 did so without receiving severance pay. According to a regulatory filing from Penney, neither former CEO Ron Johnson nor former chief talent officer Daniel Walker were paid any severance when they left the retailer.

Phoenix — An eight-screen Cinemark Movie Bistro will open at Rayzor Ranch Town Center, a new open-air retail and entertainment destination set to break ground later this year in Denton, Texas.

The state-of-the-art cinema will join a 126,000-sq.-ft. Dillard’s in anchoring Rayzor Ranch. Both are planning grand openings for summer 2015.

Columbus, Ohio — Lane Bryant has opened a new store at The Shops at Pembroke Gardens, a lifestyle center in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

The grand opening celebration will take place March 7 – 9. Lane Bryant, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group, owns and operates 805 stores nationwide.
 

Dublin, Calif. -- Ross Stores recently opened a total of 30 Ross Dress for Less and seven DD’s Discounts stores in 14 different states. These openings are part of the off-price retailer's 2014 expansion plans for about 95 new stores, which will include continuing to build presence in existing markets and grow in the newer markets initially entered in 2011.

Ross believes that long-term expansion opportunities include 2,000 Ross Dress for Less stores and 500 DD’s Discounts stores.