Discount Store

Big Lots plans to close down its wholesale operations, Big Lots Wholesale, Consolidated International and Wisconsin Toy, by the end of the current fiscal year. The move is the latest in the company’s strategy to refine its business model and focus on its retail stores.

As things wind down for the wholesale business its inventory will be liquidated. The company says that it will assimilate employees into its retail operations wherever and whenever possible throughout the next 90 days.

Columbus, Ohio -- Big Lots will close down its wholesale operations — Big Lots Wholesale, Consolidated International and Wisconsin Toy — by the end of its current fiscal year as it concentrates its focus on its retail stores. The shuttering will result in the liquidation of the wholesale unit's inventory.

Dallas — Texas Family Fitness has leased space for a 21,367-sq.-ft. fitness center in The Colony, a Cypress Equities development that currently houses Aaron’s and Big Lots!. The fitness center plans to open in first quarter 2014.

The new center will mark the seventh Dallas-Fort Worth location for Texas Family Fitness. Retail Realty represented both the fitness center and the landlord in the transaction.

New Canaan, Conn. -- Continuing a two-year slide in retail spending momentum, American shoppers will generate only a lackluster 2.9% rise in holiday sales, according to Customer Growth Partners’ 13th Annual Holiday Forecast. The CPG report paints a scenario that is decidedly less cheery than some of the other holiday forecasts that have been released to date.

By Craig Johnson, president, Customer Growth Partners

Closeout retailer Tuesday Morning reported a comparable-store increase of 9.1% for the first quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to the year-ago quarter. The comparable-store sales growth was fueled by a 13.4% increase in customer transactions and a 4.3% decrease in average ticket.

The company reported a net sales increase of 6.3% to $183.7 million, compared to $172.8 million in the year-ago quarter.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Bottom Dollar Food will open two new stores on Thursday, Oct. 31, one in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, and one in Ambler, Pa., bringing the market total for the discount grocery chain to 43 stores.

The two new stores add approximately 100 jobs to the greater Philadelphia economy. With the addition of the two new locations, Bottom Dollar Food now operates 62 stores in New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Each store is approximately 18,000 sq. ft.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced that it plans to open a Nordstrom Rack at Gateway Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The approximately 33,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open in fall 2014. Gateway Center is owned and managed by Related Companies.  

When it opens, the Gateway Center Nordstrom Rack will be the company's second Brooklyn location. The first Brooklyn Rack is set to open on Fulton Street in spring 2014.