Mass Merchant

New York -- Dollar Tree / Deal$ has leased 8,000 sq. ft. on Steinway St. in Astoria, New York, according to SRS Real Estate Partners.

The SRS New York City office represented the tenant, and Lucid Vass Realty Group represented Astoria Properties Company, the landlord.

Located on the mall’s second-floor veranda, the 8,500-sq.-ft. store puts a California spin on the brand’s preppy, nautically-inspired heritage. A sunlit glass façade and a central skylight draws natural light into the space. The interior décor includes nostalgia-oriented custom art pieces and graphic prints. A 1964 Volkswagen Bug adds to the atmosphere.

Design: Tommy Hilfiger Store Planning, New York

Architect: O'Neil Langan Architects, New York

Cherry Hill, N.J. -- Canadian apparel retailers Dynamite recently opened at Cherry Hill Mall. The 2,800-sq.-ft. store is one of the retailer’s first locations in the United States and it’s first in New Jersey. The fashion-forward retailer has more than 250 stores.

Owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, the 1,306,800-sq.-ft. mall is anchored by Nordstrom, Macy’s and J. C. Penney.

New York  -- Los Angeles is on the fast track to becoming the largest city in the nation to move toward a ban on “single-use” plastic bags after the City Council passed a resolution barring their use in supermarkets, convenience stores and any big retailer, which would include Target and Walmart, that sells groceries.

With an ongoing investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the last thing Walmart would want to do is enter a market like Russia. Nevertheless, a Bloomberg report this week linked the company to a retailer few Americans have ever hear of.

Walmart isn’t the first place that comes to mind as a destination for professional business attire so at first blush it was a bit odd to see the company affiliated with a group called Dress for Success Worldwide.

That said, there is more to Dress for Success than meets the eye which is why Walmart, in keeping with its female empowerment objectives, contributed $500,000 to the organization with week. The funds were presented during a special event held in conjunction with the Walmart Northwest Arkansas LPGA Championship.

San Francisco -- The Gymboree Corporation has appointed former Levi Strauss & Co. executive Joelle Maher as the company's new COO.  

At Levi Strauss & Co., Maher was most recently executive VP, president global retail, and prior to that senior VP of Americas multichannel retail, and VP, planning, allocation, stores, store operations and outlet.

She also held executive leadership positions at Lucky Brand Jeans, Old Navy and Macy's East.

Now that Walmart U.S. derives more than 66% of its sales from food, consumables and health and wellness related categories, Kroger is more of an immediate threat than Amazon.