eCommerce

The outdoor apparel retailer plans to open a flagship on Fifth Avenue, in the space formerly occupied by Canadian fast-fashion merchant Joe Fresh, the Real Deal reported.

The retailer signed an eight-year sublease from Joe Fresh for approximately 20,000 sq.ft. at Vornado Realty Trust’s landmarked building at 510 Fifth Avenue, according to the report. The space includes three levels of retail.

The North Face is also looking for a larger space in Manhattan’s SoHo area, the report said.

Amazon is the best place in the world to fail — that’s just one of the insights and observations in CEO Jeff Bezos’ annual letter to shareholders. Bezos talks about the importance of experimentation at Amazon in the letter, and also discusses failure in words that are rare for a CEO to use in a letter to investors, according to the Washington Post. He also cites the three "bold bets" at Amazon that have worked, starting with Amazon Web Services.

Sundance continues to expand its retail footprint.

The lifestyle retailer will open a store at Southlake Town Square, an open-air center in Southlake, Texas, on Thursday, April 14, 2016. The opening will give Sundance, which also sells online and via catalog, a total of seven brick-and-mortar locations.

Most U.S. consumers now carry a smart credit card, but they haven’t had all that much opportunity to stop swiping and start dipping their cards into upgraded terminals.

That’s according to a survey of 932 U.S. credit card-holders by CreditCards.com, which found that 70% of respondents carry at least one chip-based card. This is up from only 14% in a survey conducted by the same company in September 2015, before the October 1 deadline that shifted liability for some fraud shifted from card issuers to merchants that can't accept the new cards.

Amazon is the best place in the world to fail—that’s just one of the  insights and observations in CEO Jeff Bezos’ annual letter to shareholders.  

Sears Holdings Corp. announced it obtained a 15-month $500 million secured loan facility. ESL Investments, the company controlled by Sears chairman and CEO Edward Lampert, helped provide part of the loan and is entitled to related fees.

Sears said $250 million of the 15-month loan was funded on Friday with the remainder being accessible in the future.

Brand awareness and sales growth are accelerating at Duluth Holdings where the company’s rapidly expanding store base is so young it won’t be able to report same-store sale growth until 2017.

Belleville, Wisconsin-based Duluth Holdings, known to customers as Duluth Trading Company, grew sales 27.5% to $140.4 million and net income increased 25.8% to $17.5 million, or 58 cents a share, during the quarter ended Jan. 31. For the full year, total sales rose 31.2% to $304 billion. Net income grew 16.1% to $27.4 million, or $1.06 a share.

Design is at the center of Ethan Allen’s new retail format at Garden City Center, Cranston, Rhode Island.

The 6,000-sq.-ft. store, features an innovative display concept that showcases the company’s new interactive design service.

The open floor plan has design stations and six large touch-screens that invite customers to work directly on projects with the company’s design professionals in a space outfitted with the latest technology.