Mass Merchant

San Diego – PriceSmart Inc. reported mixed results for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, missing Wall Street expectations for net income but exceeding revenue forecasts. Net income totaled $20.65 million, down 4% from $21.43 million.

Higher income taxes and expenses drove the decline in profit. Total revenues fared better, growing 8% to $656 million, from $605.6 million. Same-store sales rose 1.5%.
 

Mandeville, La. -- Stirling Properties announced the addition of Whole Foods Market to the tenant lineup at Premier Centre, a 273,000-sq.-ft. shopping center near the intersection of U.S. Highway 190 and North Causeway Boulevard in Mandeville, Louisiana.

Teens will soon have fewer choices when it comes to shopping for the latest fashions.

Deb Shops announced it has won court approval to launch going-out-of-business sales that will culminate with the closing of nearly 300 stores.

“We thank our many customers and dedicated employees for their tremendous loyalty over the years and are very proud of our associates’ commitment to maintaining the high level of customer service we are known for throughout this transition,” said Dawn Robertson, CEO at Deb Shops.

Boston -- Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Merchant Resources will begin going-out-of-business sales at all 287 Deb Shops retail locations nationwide beginning Jan. 9. Deb Shops, a Philadelphia-based women’s fashion discount retailer, filed for Chapter 11 protection on Dec. 4, 2014.  

New York -- Retail spending growth for the holiday period totaled 3.2%, and Christmas Eve, not Black Friday, was the busiest spending day of the year. Those are just two of the findings in the First Data SpendTrend annual holiday wrap-up.

The report, which includes only card-based forms of payment, is based on analysis of over 400,000 retail merchant locations across the nation, from Nov. 1, 2014 through Jan. 4, 2015, and had processing activity with First Data for the same period during the previous year.  

Reuters is reporting a new complicating factor in the ongoing saga of efforts by Dollar Tree and Dollar General to buy Family Dollar.

Some 20 state attorneys general have joined the federal antitrust investigation of competing bids by Dollar General Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc. to buy Family Dollar Stores Inc., a development that potentially complicates the companies' efforts to win U.S. approval for a deal.

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Milwaukee -- Mid-America Real Estate Corporation’s Investment Sales team recently brokered the sale of a 4,991-sq.-ft. multi-tenant retail building within the Underwood Crossings development, a 175,000-sq.-ft. retail center located in Brookfield (Milwaukee MSA), Wisconsin. A private investor purchased the property for $1.7 million.

Miami Gardens, Fla. -- Palmetto Park, the owner of Palmetto Gardens Plaza, announced that its new anchor tenant Walmart Neighborhood Store has opened. The new store occupies 40,000 sq. ft. of the 63,000-sq.-ft. shopping center, located at 3799 NW 167th St. in Miami Gardens.

Palmetto Gardens Plaza will also feature T-Mobile, Cell Phone Repair, and Lee Nails, among other retailers, when construction on the remaining portion of the plaza is complete by the third quarter of this year.