Direct To Consumer (DTC)

Fort Worth, Texas - General Wireless Inc., an affiliate of Standard General LP, has officially received U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval to acquire the inventory and assume leases of 1,743 RadioShack stores following a bankruptcy auction. The company operates a long-term partnership with Sprint, and Sprint will provide services, products and accessories at some stores.

The stores will feature emerging technologies, as well as the traditional accessories and DIY for which RadioShack is known. Approximately 1,440 stores will be co-branded with Sprint.

Springfield, Mo. – Los Angeles-based private equity group Leonard Green & Partners is reportedly in talks to acquire a stake in specialty outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops. According to the Wall Street Journal, Leonard Green may make an offer that would value the privately-held Bass Pro at between $4 billion and $5 billion, including debt.

A plan to co-brand RadioShack stores with the Sprint logo will apparently save the chain from extinction, according to the Wall Street Journal.  

Seattle – Online specialty footwear retailers Shoes.com, OnlineShoes.com and Shoeme.ca will now be known as Shoes.com. Despite the new parent brand, OnlineShoes.com and Shoeme.ca will continue to operate under their individual names.

Santa Monica, Calif. -- Online fashion fave Nasty Gal has opened its second brick-and-mortar location, on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California. At 6,500 sq. ft., the new store is nearly triple the size of the retailer’s first location, on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles, and is filled with neon accents and kitschy-but-hip accents.

Chicago -- Torrid, the edgy plus-sized apparel division of Hot Topic, will open a flagship on State Street in Chicago, on April 8. It’s part of 60 stores the retailer is planning to open across the country this year.

The 3,000-sq.-ft. store, located in The Loop, Chicago's historic shopping district, will be Torrid's tenth store in the Windy City.

Airline passengers mourning the loss of in-flight catalog SkyMall may soon find a familiar sight in their seat pockets.

Scott Jordan, CEO and founder of multi-pocket travel clothing company SCOTTeVEST, intends to fill the vacuum created by SkyMall's loss with a new in-flight shopping experience: SKY2BUY. It will be in planes in test markets around the United States in June or July of this year.

"This summer, fly with SKY2BUY, your new mall in the sky," Jordan said.

Brick-and-mortar stores are in transition from being viewed as a relic of the 20th century to being understood as the linchpin of 21st century omnichannel retailing. In the SPECS session “Reinventing Brick & Mortar Retail,” speaker Nadia Shouraboura, founder and CEO, Hointer Inc., explained just how wide-ranging that transition will be.

“The next 10 years will see more profound change in store design that we’ve seen in the last 1,000 years,” said Shouraboura.

Ascena Retail Group has named Brian Lynch, a 35-year fashion and retail industry veteran, as president and CEO of its Justice stores<span style="color: rgb(54, 54, 54); font-family: open_sansregular, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; fo

Now that Amazon.com sells virtually any physical good one can think of, the retailer wants to be there when a customer needs to install or repair it.