Mass Merchant

Forest City Realty Trust may be on its way to having a greatly reduced investment in the mall industry and a bigger one in apartments and office assets.   The Cleveland-based firm announced it is reviewing strategic alternatives for its retail portfolio. Forest City holds ownership stakes in 14 regional malls across the country and 19 specialty retail centers, mostly in New York City. The East River Plaza, which fronts the FDR Drive in Manhattan at 116th Street, is a Forest City property.  

On Aug. 8, Walmart announced it would buy Jet.com -- one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in the U.S. -- for a whopping $3 billion.   

Mike McNamara, a former executive at British retailer Tesco PLC, joined Target as CIO last summer, moving from London to Minneapolis.   In a Q&A on Target’s website, McNamara discusses highlights of his first year with the discounter and priorities going forward. He also spoke about Target’s tech hiring boom.    

Back to school sales appear to be rebounding this year after experiencing sluggish growth over the past three years (2013-2015).   That’s according to First Data’s Back-to-school SpendTrend report, which is based on aggregate same store sales activity in the First Data point-of-sale network.   Some of the most significant findings include:  

Shopko Stores confirmed Monday that executive VP of retail at Andre Persaud has left the company.

The world’s biggest online retailer is planning to open a drive-up grocery store in its hometown.   At least that’s according to a report by GeekWire, which said Amazon plans to renovate a site in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood into a 9,759-sq.-ft. retail space where shoppers can pick up groceries that they ordered online.  

Marketing in the department store arena may be new for Rich Lennox, but he’s got plenty of retail marketing experience under his belt. The CMO for Toys “R” Us, who also served in the same capacity for Zales Corp., will take the marketing reins of Macy’s Inc., effective Sept. 15.   Lennox, 51, succeeds Martine Reardon, who left Macy’s in May. He will lead a branding and marketing strategy charge across all channels, reporting to president Jeff Gennette.  

Photo: Marko Kokic, Red Cross   As the national media continues to largely ignore Louisiana’s cries for help after 6.9 trillion gallons of rain pummeled the southern part of the state between Aug. 8 and Aug. 14, retailers such as Target Corp. have answered the call.