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It’s a shame (or maybe a good thing) Hemingway and Bukowski did not live in an age where a vast assortment of alcohol is available a click away.

Omnichannel beer/wine/liquor delivery service Drizly is launching a new service that provides digital drinkers with a product selection far beyond the scope of local stores. Currently available in Boston and Washington, D.C., Drizly Connect lets users shop across tens of thousands of beer, wine and spirits products for next-day delivery orders.

Consumers know the perfect gift when they find it, and 1-800-Flowers.com is trying to make the search a little easier.

The specialty gift retailer is offering a beta of “GWYN” (Gifts When You Need), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered intuitive shopping experience across its brands. GWYN is based on the Fluid Expert Personal Shopper (XPS) software platform, which in turn is supported by IBM Watson.

Kit and Ace announced that Wendy Bennison has been named president. Interim CEO Paul Wilson will resume his role as CEO of Hold It All Inc.

“We feel very fortunate to have Wendy on board,” said Wilson. “She is a proven leader with an incredible depth of knowledge in the retail marketplace – both here in Canada and internationally. We’re confident that there is no better person to helm the next phase of our growth.”

The opening of the newest Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th location near downtown Chicago is a big deal literally and figuratively.

The newest Off 5th is located in the NEWCITY development at Lincoln Park on the northern fringe of downtown Chicago at 1457 Halsted Street at the intersection of North Clybourn Avenue. The store is the company’s 100th Off 5th location in North American, its seventh in Illinois and the second in downtown Chicago following the April 14 opening of the first location as 6 S. State Street.

Photos by Kate Berry

For all their differences, the shopping center owners and brokers from around the world who will gather at the end of May in Las Vegas for retail real estate’s annual RECon confab are alike in that they are all on the lookout for new retail concepts to lure and entice shoppers.

The good news is that there are plenty of newer brands ready to spread their wings. Some have been around for a couple of years, but are flush with new financing. Many are formerly pure players now turning their attention to physical stores.

Sierra Trading Post, an online retailer TJX Cos. acquired in 2012, is accelerating store expansion and could become a new growth driver for the nation’s leading off price retailer with designs on extending its value proposition to the outdoor and active lifestyle world.

Whatever you may have been doing at age 17, it was likely less impressive than launching a new e-commerce/ social media platform aimed at sneaker aficionados.

But that’s just what New York-based 17-year-old sneaker enthusiast Anthony Debrantt has done, founding a new online and mobile marketplace called Sneakmart. The site has offers hundreds of thousands of new and used sneakers, including major brands.