Discount Store

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores on Thursday announced that president and COO Michael Bloom has left the company to pursue other interests. The company will conduct a search for a new president and COO. The news comes amid disappointing first quarter results for the company, which lowered its earnings expectations for the second quarter and full year. Family Dollar also announced it has promoted Jason Reiser to the position of executive VP - chief merchandising officer.

Supervalu reported net earnings of $31 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2014, almost double the net earnings of $16 million reported in the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. This dramatic increase came even as net sales slipped 1% to $4.1 billion from $4.5 billion.

Seattle — Nordstrom plans to open a 35,000-sq.-ft. Nordstrom Rack at The Greene Town Center in Dayton, Ohio, in the fall of 2014. Olshan Properties, formerly known as MPI, Mall Properties, Inc., manages The Greene Town Center.

Nordstrom Rack has four other locations in Ohio, two of which opened this past fall in Columbus and Westlake. Another Rack location is set to open at Sun Center in Columbus this spring. Nordstrom operates three full-line stores in Ohio.

New York -- After almost 93 years, off-price specialty retailer Loehmann's is going out of business.

On Jan. 7, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan approved an order authorizing a joint venture formed by SB Capital Group, LLC, Tiger Capital Group, LLC, and A & G Realty Partners, to conduct "Going Out of Business" sales in each of Loehmann's 39 locations in 11 states and the District of Columbia.  

Washington, D.C. - Jim Sinegal, Costco co-founder and board member, will receive the Gold Medal Award in 2014 during the National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Conference and Expo in New York City. In addition, NRF has named South Korea’s Lotte Shopping as the International Retailer of the Year.

Nike has been named Retail Innovator of the Year, and Half Price Books’ Executive VP  and chief strategy officer Kathy Doyle Thomas has been selected as 2014’s Silver Plaque recipient.

Tampa, Fla. — RMC Property Group has announced plans to redevelop the Publix-anchored Indian Rocks Shopping Center in Largo, Fla. Bealls Outlet and Dollar Tree also serve as co-anchors at the center.

Publix recently signed a new lease and plans to completely redevelop a 45,000-sq.-ft. store. The existing Publix closed in December 2013. Plans call for the redeveloped store to open this fall.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced today plans to open a Nordstrom Rack at The Shops at SkyView Center in Queens, N.Y., and another at Lake Brandson Plaza, Brandon, Fla. Both stores are scheduled to open in fall 2014.

Nordstrom Rack is set to open its first Brooklyn, N.Y., location on Fulton Street in spring 2014 followed by a second location at the Gateway Center in Brooklyn, in the fall. When it opens, The Shops at SkyView Center Nordstrom Rack will be the company's first Queens location.

While we wait for all of the official numbers to come in from the 2013 holiday shopping season — a topic I’ll address in a future column — I thought this might be a good time to expand on one of the points I made about retail downsizing in my 2014 forecast piece.