eCommerce

When it comes to retail rents, Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue is really in a class by itself. 

Upper  Fifth Avenue, between 49th and 60th streets,  is the most expensive retail corridor in the world, with rents rising 3.6% to $3,500 per sq. ft. through the first half of this year, according to a annual report from Cushman & Wakefield. (The top 10 streets are listed at end of article.)

Fifth Avenue rent was nearly double that of the second priciest corridor, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, at $2,399 per sq. ft.

RadioShack is moving Black Friday all the way over to Wednesday in the hopes of ramping up shopper excitement for the holiday.

The company issued a call to customers Tuesday saying that as a "thank you to our loyal customers (particularly those who don't like to get trampled at big box stores on Black Friday), RadioShack's Black Friday Sale will begin early on Wednesday, Nov. 25." RadioShack says stores will stay open an extra hour on Wednesday, will reopen at 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and feature extended hours the rest of the weekend.

(The following is an excerpt from the new book, Extraordinary Experiences: What Great Retail and Restaurant Brands Do, by Denise Lee Yohn.)

Scott McClelland seems an unlikely candidate for his picture to appear under a "Why Is This Man Smiling?" headline. As spokesperson and president of the Houston food/drug division of Texas-based grocery store chain H-E-B, McClelland has plenty of reasons to be worried.

Towson, Md. -- Retail Properties of America announced it acquired Towson Square located in Towson, Maryland. The property was purchased for $39.7 million. Towson Square is a new development that opened in 2014 and is currently 96.6% occupied.

Atlanta-based Home Depot reported steady growth of transactions for its DIY and pro customers in third quarter 2015, leading the way to net sales of $21.8 billion, up 6.4% from the same quarter last year.

Net earnings for the world's largest home improvement retailer jumped 12.2% to $1.725 billion.

"During the quarter, we saw broad-based growth across our geographies and product categories, led by growth in transactions from both our DIY and pro customers," said Craig Menear, CEO and president.

The off-price wars are heating up in New York City.

Saks Fifth Avenue will open its first Saks Off 5th outlet in New York City, in a 32-story office tower at 125 East 57th Street, in March 2016. The store will feature a lobby entrance at street level, which will access two lower level floors.

“The addition of a new Saks Off 5th store at this strategic location will be a dramatic game changer for 57th Street retail east of Park Avenue,” said Charles S. Cohen, president and CEO of Cohen Brothers Realty Corp., which owns the property.

The influx of new retail into New York City, from brands both familiar and ones new to our shores, continued unabated in 2015. Everyone has their favorites. Here are mine:

Flying Tiger

The CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods said strong back-to-school sales couldn't help his company recover from a slowdown in consumer spending in the third quarter.

For the third quarter ended Oct. 31, Dick's reported a 0.7% increase in same-store sales. Earnings were $47.2 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with $49.2 million, or 41 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 7.6% to $1.64 billion.

Despite weak overall sales growth and an expected decline in third quarter profits, Walmart’s third quarter results offered reasons for the company to be optimistic and for competitors to be concerned.

Kohl’s has named Walgreens' former digital and chief marketing officer to the newly created role of chief operating officer and indicated she could eventually replace Kevin Mansell as CEO.

Kohl’s named Sona Chawla to the newly created position of COO, which might as well stand for chief omnichannel officer given her range of responsibilities and most recent experience at Walgreens. She will report directly to Kohl’s chairman, president and CEO Kevin Mansell.