Department Store

Owings Mills, Md. — Designer Shoe Warehouse has inked a deal to open a new store at Waugh Chapel Towne Centre in Gambrills, Md., between Annapolis and Baltimore, this summer. DSW has leased a 10,010-sq.-ft. space that the property’s owner Greenberg Gibbons will expand to 16,680 sq. ft. The deal leases the project up to 100%.

Seattle - Nordstrom, Inc. plans to relocate its full-line store to a new space within Ala Moana Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. The new three-level, approximately 186,000-sq.-ft. store is expected to open spring 2016.

Hampstead, Md. – The correspondence between Jos. A. Bank and The Men’s Wearhouse continues, and it’s not all love letters. In response to a letter sent Jan. 30 from the Men’s Wearhouse board urging Jos. A. Bank to reconsider its recent all-cash offer to acquire Jos. A. Bank for $57.50 per share, or about $1.6 billion, Jos. A. Bank — which rejected that offer on Jan. 20 — does not sound anxious to revisit it in the most recent letter it sent to Men’s Wearhouse president and CEO Doug Ewert.

ECRM compared retail circular advertising in January 2013 versus January 2014 and noted trends occurring across top retail chains. The home improvement retailers appear to have reversed course somewhat. In previous months, Home Depot focused on smaller, denser circulars while Lowe’s typically featured many pages with few ads on each. While this is still generally true, Home Depot saw a moderate 25% increase in circular page count and Lowe’s doubled its number of ads per page and per circular.

New York -- Sports Authority has hired Jeremy Aguilar as CFO. Aguilar, who most recently served as CFO of Hhgregg, replaces former Sports Authority CFO Tom Hendrickson, who retired from the company.

“Jeremy’s expertise in finance and accounting will play a critical role in further strengthening Sports Authority,” said CEO Michael E. Foss. “He will be a valuable asset to the team; we are thrilled to have him on board.”

New Albany, Ohio -- Abercrombie & Fitch Co. has promoted Jonathan E. Ramsden, currently the company's executive VP and CFO, to the position of COO, a new role at the company. Ramsden will continue to serve as CFO, in addition to his COO role, until a new CFO is appointed.

New York – Saks Fifth Avenue is reportedly planning to both increase the amount of high-end luxury goods it sells and also increase the number of Saks Off 5th outlet stores it operates. According to the Wall Street Journal, Richard Baker, CEO of Canadian department store chain (and new Saks owner) Hudson’s Bay Company wants to overhaul Saks stores by selling more items such as $48,000 Louis Vuitton crocodile handbags.

Anna’s Linens has elevated company president Scott Gladstone to CEO. The home furnishings and home décor retailer was founded by Alan Gladstone, and now has more than 300 stores throughout 19 states.

“Scott has spent the last eight years at Anna’s bringing innovation and business improvements to many different areas of the company. I am proud of what we have done together and have absolute confidence that he is the person who can lead us in writing the next chapter of Anna’s history,” said Alan Gladstone.