Mass Merchant

Dollar Tree’s third quarter results weren’t as strong as the prior year, but all is well with the integration of Family Dollar and CEO Bob Sasser contends the combined company is well-positioned for the holidays.

Total sales increased 136% to $4.95 billion during the quarter ended Oct. 31, from $2.1 billion in the prior year’s third quarter. The surge in sales reflects the first full quarter in which sales from Family Dollar stores are included in results. Dollar Tree completed its acquisition of Family Dollar on July 6 creating a retailer with 13,600 stores.

Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th is making progress in its plans to open up to 25 locations across Canada by 2018.

The retailer announced three new locations in Canada: Toronto Premium Outlets, Halton Hills, Ontario; Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario; and Premium Outlets Montreal, Mirabel, Quebec City.

X Team International announced that Mountain West Retail and Investment and Newmark Grubb ACRES completed sales of two grocery-anchored properties same-day.

Canyon Center, a 51,914-sq.-ft. property in Sandy, Utah, is anchored by Smith’s and Shopko; the seller was Dee’s Inc., a third generation, family-owned real estate company, and the buyer was Pacific Castle, a Southern California-based institutional investor.

There has been a bit of controversy lately regarding Urban Outfitters’ recent request that some of their salaried employees “volunteer” to fill normally hourly roles in fulfillment centers and retail outlets.

Project Owner: Forest City Enterprises

Company HQ: Cleveland

Project Location: Arlington, Virginia

Project Size: Total project is 1 million sq. ft.; Ballston Quarter is 325,000 sq. ft.

Project Status: Opening 2018

Project Website: www.ballstonquarter.com

Outlet malls are often associated with not only appealing deals on name-brand products, but also with driving long distances to get to the far-flung locations where outlets have traditionally been located.

But that is all changing — and changing fast.

Holiday is going to have a new look this year, as retailers take a different approach to the shopping season. As a result of consumers’ overwhelming focus on price, online shopping and free shipping incentives, retailers have been forced to rethink their strategies. As part of our ongoing series of retail industry surveys, HRC Advisory recently spoke with over a dozen top U.S. retailers to gauge what’s to come for the 2015 holiday season.

Taking the reins of Toys “R” Us in July 2015, new CEO and chairman David Brandon recognized one of the biggest challenges he faced would be inspiring others to execute his vision of what the company could be. The retailer had gone through a decade of leadership changes, and Brandon was well aware that frequent executive changes, strategic shifts and cost-cutting can cause stress and a lack of trust.