Mass Merchant

More than 100 senior retail executives are already confirmed as speakers for a first-of-its-kind event called Shoptalk that will be held next May with a focus on next generation commerce.

Organizers of the event have confirmed speaker participants including Jason Goldberger, president of Target.com and mobile; Casey Carl, Target chief strategy and innovation officer; Joe Megibow, chief digital officer at American Eagle Outfitters; John Koryl, president of Neiman Marcus stores and online and Andrea Wasserman, senior VP and head of direct-to-consumer at Nine West Group.

Amazon’s first permanent physical store has opened in its hometown of Seattle and guess what? It looks a lot like the bookstores whose demise it facilitated.

In a letter to customers, the retailer announced the opening of the store located at 4601 26th Avenue NE in Seattle’s University Village on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Target is expanding its Instacart same-day delivery service to another major U.S. city.

Following a successful pilot in Minneapolis, Target is now partnering with Instacart to offer customers in the San Francisco Bay Area fresh food, non-perishable food items, health and beauty products, pet and household supplies, and select baby items delivered to their homes in as little as one hour.

Chief marketing officers at leading U.S. retailers are forecasting a 4.2% increase in overall holiday store sales, according to the 10th annual BDO USA survey.

This year’s BDO projection is only slightly higher than the National Retail Federation’s expected 3.7% increase to $630.5 billion, slower than the 4.1% increase during last year's November-December period.

New York -- The Feil Organization announced the completion of Nassau Mall and Kohl's Plaza complex renovation in Levittown, New York. The renovation consisted of a new façade and re-tenanting the centers, which resulted in four new leases totaling approximately 11,000 sq. ft. and 100% occupancy at both centers.

A major national retailer is the latest chain to start offering same-day delivery in a large metropolitan area.

According to Re/code, Best Buy is partnering with third-party delivery service Deliv to offer customers in the San Francisco area, including San Jose, same-day delivery of online orders. The official rollout follows a recent pilot of the service Best Buy conducted with Deliv in the greater San Francisco area.

Photo: Courtesy of Kmart/Wendy Williams poses during recent a Wendy Williams Show taping at Kmart where the retailer announced the Bluelight Specials are back.

Kmart is hoping that bringing back a 50-year-old marketing strategy will ignite a new sales push online and in stores.

99 Cents Only Stores has appointed a new CFO who has been a veteran retail leader for Kroger and Albertsons.