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New York – Specialty eyewear Warby Parker has reportedly received $100 million in financing the company plans to use to build new brick-and-mortar stores. According to the Wall Street Journal, the round of financing, led by T. Rowe Price, values Warby Parker at $1.2 billion.

Frank & Oak, the online membership-based menswear retailer,  is also  expanding in the physical space, with both permanent locations and pop-ups. The company's Toronto flagship  features the brand’s monthly menswear collections and special capsule collections. The spacious, contemporary space reflects the brand’s lifestyle approach to retailing with a café and full-service barbershop.

A look at brands and categories that are growing

I read CSA editor-in-chief Marianne Wilson’s recent “From the Editor’s Desk” column (page 8, March 2015 issue, Chain Store Age) with great interest. Her piece — “The store is back (even though it never left)” — touched on the topic of brick-and-mortar retail expansion and “the relevance of offline retail in an omnichannel world.”

The article got me thinking in more detail about the retail expansion we are seeing in 2015. What brands are growing?

Our cover story this month is about one of my favorite topics: hot retail concepts. It’s a subject that, to my mind, never goes out of style because it speaks as much to the essence of retail in today’s omnichannel age as it did in the purely physical one.

New concepts remain the lifeblood of retailing, and it’s always exciting to recognize and call attention to them. And I’m happy to report that the industry seems to be particularly rich in new formats these days.

Apple will open its highly anticipated new campus in April. Dubbed Apple Park, the site is located on a 175-acre site in Cupertino, Calif.

The heart of the campus is a futuristic, ring-shaped, 2.8 million-sq.-ft. headquarters building that’s clad entirely in panels of curved glass. Designed in collaboration with Foster + Partners, Apple Park is powered by 100% renewable energy. With 17 megawatts of rooftop solar, the campus will run one of the largest on-site solar energy installations in the world.

Bauer Hockey: Ice hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey is throwing its puck in the retail arena. The company will open its first-ever store this summer, in Burlington, Massachusetts, followed by a second location in the fall, in the Minneapolis area.

From international brands dropping anchor on U.S. shores and online players expanding in the physical space to familiar names with new formats and traditional start-ups, there is no lack of new concepts in the brick-and-mortar arena. Here’s a look at some with the biggest buzz.

TreeHouse

An Austin, Texas-based home improvement retailer with a green conscience and niche positioning is ready to branch out. TreeHouse opened in late 2011 in Austin’s Westgate Shopping Center, and has been thriving ever since.

Amazon has climbed to the top of the social shopping ranks, thanks in part to the introduction of #AmazonCart and #AmazonBasket.

San Francisco – Uber is reportedly planning to launch a same-day online retail delivery service. According to TechCrunch, Uber has already issued training documents for drivers and couriers who want to participate in the service.

About 400 retailers including Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s, Cohen’s Fashion Optical and Hugo Boss are said to be considering participating in what will be called the Uber Merchant Delivery Program. Training documents reference retailers Hugo Boss and Cohen’s Fashion Optical as examples.