Mass Merchant

NEW YORK — Target is the latest retailer heading to the Silicon Valley to develop its omnichannel business.

The mass merchandise retailer announced the opening of a new office in San Francisco that will allow it to work with technology companies in the area to create new digital and mobile shopping programs.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Shopping malls continue to be popular with consumers because they offer hands-on shopping experience, according to results of a new survey from Glimcher Retail Monitor. Consumers cite reasons such as ability to try on clothes and accessories (74%), the shopping experience (55%) and store variety (49%) for going to the mall.

SAN DIEGO — Walmart, Sam’s Club and Operation Homefront kicked off their nationwide series Saluting Heroes Together with a community-wide military appreciation event in San Diego on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 18. 

The event was the first in a series of tributes the organizations are hosting across the country to honor men and women who have or are currently serving, as well as their families.

Cincinnatti -- Macy’s plans to close a store located in downtown St. Louis at the Railway Exchange Building on Olive Street, with a final clearance sale beginning Sunday, June 2 that is expected to last about 10 weeks. Macy’s plans to continue operating its other eight stores in the Greater St. Louis area.

BEACHWOOD, Ohio — Ikea and Walmart are among the retailers heading to Charlotte, N.C., to anchor the Belgate Shopping Center. The new 900,000-sq.-ft. shopping center is DDR Corp.’s first ground-up domestic development in more than four years. 

The center will also include junior anchors Marshalls, Old Navy, Petco, ULTA, Cost Plus World Market, Hobby Lobby and Shoe Carnival.

Bentonville, AR -- Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has installed eight solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays in Massachusetts.

The arrays contain almost 10,000 solar panels that Wal-Mart estimates will generate 2.8 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy every year, eliminating almost 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Houston -- Stage Stores reported a loss of $6.9 million for the first quarter, compared with a loss of $418,000 for the year-ago period, as the retailer dealt with cool weather that put a damper on sales of spring apparel.
 
"The unseasonably cool weather in March and April, particularly when compared to last year's warm spring, strongly impacted our sales performance," president and CEO Michael Glazer said.

Revenue rose 4% to $378.6 million from $365.7 million. Same-store sales inched up 0.7%.
 

Washington, D.C. -- Douglas Development said that specialty candy store IT’SUGAR will join soft-serve yogurt shop FrozenYo and bar concept Jackpot Tavern in Chinatown, across from the Verizon Center and Gallery Place Metro Station, in Washington, D.C.