Mass Merchant

New York City -- Bloomingdale’s 520,000-sq.-ft. Manhattan flagship is undergoing a 100,000-sq.-ft. renovation, Women’s Wear Daily reported, with bridge, contemporary, home, shoes, fine jewelry and parts of the designer floor included in the remodel.

The project is estimated to cost $50 million, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
 

On March 22, 2011, Canadian retailer tb!s The Bargain Shop named top American retail executive Beryl “Jack” Buley as its new president and CEO.  A week later, on March 29, I sat down with Buley to discuss his new position for our then-upcoming June/July issue.  Eight weeks later, he was dead.

San Ramon, Calif. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said that two new tenants have leased space at Diablo Plaza, located in San Ramon, Calif.

Beverages & more! leased 12,015 sq. ft. and is slated to open this fall. Another new addition, West Coast Gold Buyers, leased 1,300 sq. ft. and is now open.

The 63,265-sq.-ft. center includes national retailers such as Safeway, CVS/pharmacy, Verizon Wireless and McDonald’s.

Chattanooga, Tenn. -- TIAA-CREF and CBL & Associates Properties have announced the closing of their $1.09 billion real estate joint venture to invest in market-dominant shopping malls.

TIAA-CREF has completed its investment in four of CBL’s market-dominant shopping malls: Oak Park Mall in Kansas City, Kan.; West County Center in St. Louis; CoolSprings Galleria in Nashville; and Pearland Town Center in Pearland, Texas.

Elizabethtown, Ky. -- Brixmor Property Group announced a 1,200-sq.-ft. lease has been executed with Edible Arrangements at Kmart Plaza, located in Elizabethtown, Ky.

New York City-based Brixmor is the owner of Kmart Plaza.

Beachwood, Ohio -- DDR Corp. announced Friday plans to redevelop four shopping centers by adding two new Walmart stores in Florida and expanding two existing stores in Ohio and Puerto Rico.

"These projects will deliver desired growth opportunities to the world's most successful retailer and further strengthen DDR's relationship with its largest tenant," said Paul Freddo, senior executive VP leasing & development for DDR.

Chesapeake, Va. -- Dollar Tree said that its board has approved a $1.5 billion share repurchase program. The company said it has invested more than $1.9 billion for share repurchase since 2003, including $414.7 million in 2010 and $345.9 million in 2011, to date.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that it is partnering with internationally renowned designer Josie Natori to introduce its first limited-edition collection of lingerie and loungewear.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target report a moderately better than expected 5.3% same-store sales increase for September that was driven by broad-based gains in all categories and geographic regions, the company reported Thursday. The increase was almost entirely due to larger average transaction sizes and came on top of a prior year increase of 1.3%. The company also noted that customer traffic as measured by comparable-store transaction increase a little more than 1%.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. PLANO, Texas and CINCINNATI – While Kohl’s and Macy’s posted September sales growth, JCPenney had to scale its outlook back after a weaker than expected month.

Kohl’s reported that sales for September increased 5.8% and comparable-store sales increased 4.1% over the same period last year.