Mass Merchant

RESTON, Va. — Online retail spending has seen a big jump this holiday season to date, according to a new report from ComScore.

According to the research firm, retail e-commerce spending for the first 32 days of the November-December 2011 holiday season saw a 15% spike to $18.7 billion, compared with the corresponding days last year. The overall spending was driven by billion-dollar spending days, including Cyber Monday, Nov. 28 ($1.25 billion), followed by Nov. 29 ($1.12 billion) and Nov. 30 ($1.03 billion).

All retailers are taking price increases where they can these days, especially in food, but the pace of increases at Walmart has slowed, and its price gap relative to most competitors has widened, according to the most recent pricing survey conducted by Credit Suisse.

Pam Kohn and Cameron Geiger are the headliners at this year’s annual luncheon for the Northwest Arkansas chapter of the Retail Link Users Group also known as the nwaRLUG.

Organizers of the event expect upward of 800 people will attend the 13th annual affair, which couldn’t take place at a more opportune time considering the heightened emphasis Walmart has placed on store level execution and on-shelf availability as the only metric that matters when it comes to assessing in-stock.

Niles, Ill. -- Tucker Development Corp. said that Ross Dress for Less has opened a 30,122-sq.-ft. store at Pointe Plaza in Niles, Ill.

In addition, Tucker Development announced two new lease transactions at Pointe Plaza: Batteries Plus has signed a 1,500-sq.-ft. lease, and Naf Naf Grill has signed a lease for 2,808 sq. ft.

Other tenants at Pointe Plaza include Walmart, Babies "R" Us, Starbucks, Men's Wearhouse, Fresh Farms International Market, Brick House Tavern + Tap, Jimmy John's, Walgreens and T-Mobile.
 

Listening to the debate over the years about whether India should allow foreign direct investment in its retail industry sounded an awful lot like the opposition Walmart has dealt with for decades in the United States.

As retailers assess what worked and what didn’t in terms of Black Friday promotions and Thanksgiving weekend sales, overall there are a few things that stand out.

Poway, Calif. -- Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers said that Villa Capri Ristorante has leased restaurant space at Twin Peaks shopping center, located in Poway, Calif.

The 2,570-sq.-ft. restaurant is slated to open in January 2012, bringing the center to 98% leased.

Twin Peaks is a 198,139-sq.-ft. shopping center home to several national and regional retailers such as Target, Albertsons, Starbucks and Subway.

Chicago -- More customers shopped the Sunday before Thanksgiving than the days following Black Friday, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of retail and mall foot-traffic counting services.