Mass Merchant

Hoboken, N.J. – The countdown is on for the latest competitor to Amazon.com to take off. Jet.com, which hopes to compete with the Amazon Prime membership service using “profit-free” pricing, has an online clock on its homepage counting down to launch at 6 a.m. ET on Tuesday, July 21.

Ross Stores is crossing off a big chunk of its to-do list as the retailer moves forward with its plans to open 90 stores in 2015.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. is presenting itself as “Tahget” to Boston-area shoppers. The Boston Globe reports that Target is offering an assortment of “Local Pride” T-shirts with stereotypically Boston phrases and slang, such as “Wicked Smaht,” in its store located in Somerville, Massachusetts, a small city bordering Boston.

The localized assortment will also be featured in Target’s new CityTarget location scheduled to open in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston on Wednesday, July 22.

Now that the dust is clearing from the Amazon Prime Day sales “holiday,” we can take a look back at this unique retail event, which livened up the typical lull of mid-summer. Let’s review three initial lessons the retail industry can learn from what some observers called the “summer Black Friday.”

Every Day can be a Holiday

Office Depot Inc. is focusing on attracting de-cluttering consumers as the retailer awaits regulatory approval of its merger with Staples.

Office Depot announced it is launching Perch by Urbio, a new line of organization products for the home or office, available now in both Office Depot and OfficeMax retail locations and online at officedepot.com.

New York – Macy’s Inc. is attempting to make charitable donations fashionable. The retailer’s new Fashion Pass program provides customers 15%-20% off storewide, plus $10 off a $30 purchase, when they give $5 at the register from July 22 to Aug. 15.

Chattanooga, Tenn. - Ross Dress for Less and Ulta Beauty are coming to Randolph Mall in Asheboro, North Carolina. The two new stores will be situated in the former J.C. Penney location.  

Construction is expected to begin in October with the grand opening for both stores scheduled for 2016. Randolph Mall is a 400,000-sq.-ft. mall featuring more than 40 specialty stores and is anchored by Belk, Dunham’s Sports, and Sears.

Lakeville, Minn. - Mid-America Real Estate Corp.’s investment sales team recently brokered the sale of Heritage Commons in Lakeville, Minnesota (part of the Minneapolis metropolitan statistical area) to Austin, Texas-based Epic Real Estate Partners. Epic purchased the 138,690-sq.-ft. grocery-anchored neighborhood center.

Heritage Commons is anchored by Cub Foods and is complemented by national and local tenants including Subway, Papa Murphy’s, Great Clips and American Dental.