Discount Store

New York  — DryClean NYC has signed a lease for a fourth location in Upper Manhattan, according to Faith Hope Consolo, chairman, Joseph A. Aquino, executive VP and Arthur Maglio of Douglas Elliman’s Retail Group, who arranged the lease. The new store will open at 708 St. Nicholas Avenue, between 145 and 146th Streets.

This is the fifth lease the Retail Group has arranged in the building. The other four stores include Sugar Hill Medical Plaza, Unity Wines & Spirits, W Dental and Metro PCS.

New York -- Sales at U.S. chain stores were up 2.1% in November, or 3% without the effects of gasoline sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. The group had predicted an increase of 3.5% to 4.5%.

“Sales were constrained by weak apparel sales this month,” said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist, ICSC. “November was a very competitive environment for retailers, and the softness in the November tally suggests some cautiousness by consumers.”

New York -- Eddie Lambert’s ESL Partners has reduced the size of its stake in Sears Holdings Corp. disclosing in a regulatory filing on that it now owns 48.4% of its shares, down from 55.4%.

In a statement, Lampert said that his fund had distributed 7.4 million shares in Sears to investors who wanted to withdraw money from his firm.  He said that he had not sold any of his personal holdings.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to further expand its Los Angeles-area presence with the addition of a Nordstrom Rack at Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The approximately 40,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open in fall 2015. The Rack location at Janss Marketplace is a development by Seritage Realty Trust, a division of Sears Holdings Corporation.

Nordstrom has operated a full-line store approximately one mile from the new Rack location at The Oaks since 2008.

New York – Give your project the recognition it deserves — enter Chain Store Age’s 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The entry deadline is December 23, 2013.

More than 20 competition categories are featured, including department stores, supermarkets, discounters, restaurants, convenience stores, specialty stores, service, sustainability and pop-up stores. This year, for the first time, the competition also includes the category of in-store digital innovation.

New York -- Michael’s has leased a 21,400-sq.-ft. former Circuit City store at the Torrington Fair shopping center in Torrington, Conn.

Wal-Mart, Price Chopper and Petco anchor the center, which is now 100% leased, although there is an outparcel that may be developed in the future. Charter Realty & Development www.chartweb.com and Lornell Realty made the deal.

Matthews, N.C. -- Despite the growth in e-commerce, Americans still prefer to make most holiday gift purchases in stores close to home, according to a recent national survey conducted for Family Dollar.

Seven-in-10 consumers say they describe themselves as in-person shoppers, while only 30% say they would be best characterized as online shoppers. Also, more than half of surveyed consumers say they expect to travel 10 miles or less when looking for the majority of their gifts this season.

Matthews, N.C. – Americans prefer to make most gift purchases in stores close to home. Seven-in-10 consumers in a recent survey conducted for Family Dollar say they describe themselves as in-person shoppers, while only 30% say they would be best characterized as online shoppers.