Mass Merchant

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to open a full-line store in a new open-air retail promenade to be built by Caruso Affiliated, in Carlsbad, California.

The 124,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open fall 2018 and will be the fifth Nordstrom full-line store in the greater San Diego area. The company opened its first Nordstrom in San Diego at Fashion Valley in 1981.

Wesley Chapel, Fla. -- More than1.2 million shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2014 by just 25 large retailers who recovered over $225 million from these thieves, according to the 27th Annual Retail Theft Survey conducted by loss prevention and inventory shrinkage control consulting firm Jack L. Hayes International. The participants were made up 25 large retail companies with 23,250 stores and over $700 billion in retail sales (2014).

Simon is expanding the hugely successful Sawgrass Mills outlet and entertainment center in Florida by adding a new, full-price component.

Franklin, Tenn. – Retailers lose $1.1 trillion worldwide due to inventory distortion. According to new research from IHL Group, by fixing problems such as out-of-stocks and excess inventory from overstocks, retailers could improve their revenues by 7.5%.

The combined cost of poor merchandise planning alone equals $452 billion. Inventory distortion costs retailers nearly $158 for every person on the planet, and $252.2 billion annually in North America. The Asia/Pacific region contributes 39% of all inventory distortion.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – Sears Holding Group Inc. has filed a $1.57 billion subscription rights offering with the SEC for its real estate investment trust (REIT) known as Seritage Growth Properties. The offering would give Sears shareholders the right to buy up to 53.3 million shares of the REIT at a share price of $29.58.

Seritage also plans to sell 9.5 million class C non-voting shares to Fairholme Capital Management LLC, Sears’ second-largest shareholder, at the same price. This would give Fairholme a roughly 12% stake in Seritage.

Brick-and-mortar stores are still relevant, with 87% of consumers planning to shop physical retail at least as often as they did in 2014, according to a study by TimeTrade Systems.

New York -- Rising rents are causing another national chain to exit a high-profile location in Manhattan. Home-furnishings retailer Crate & Barrel will close its flagship on Madison Avenue (at 59th Street) on Aug. 2, after negotiating an early exit from its lease, according to the Wall Street Journal. The store opened in 1995.

The closing will leave the city with just one Crate & Barrel, in the Soho section of downtown Manhattan.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – A reduction in selling, general and administrative expenses helped Sears Holdings Corp. reduce its first quarter net loss even as its sales continued to slide. The results came in as the chain prepares for the launch of its real-estate investment trust this week to raise cash. Sears said it expects the REIT transaction to raise $2.6 billion.