Mass Merchant

Bentonville, Ark. -- A rare sales bump may provide the world’s largest retailer just the momentum it needs going into the important holiday season, say Wall Street analysts, as Wal-Mart reported that 3Q same-store sales rose at U.S. namesake stores for the first time in nearly two years.

 

However, Wal-Mart tempered the news with warnings that a highly promotional environment lies ahead.

 

Beachwood, Ohio -- DDR Corp. announced the sale of an 11-property portfolio--located primarily in the Buffalo MSA that was previously held in joint venture with Kuwaiti Financial Centre II--for a total of $154 million. The portfolio was comprised of small-format traditional grocery-anchored centers and single tenant non-prime assets.  

Old Bridge, N.J. -- An improved picture in both ‘big-box’ and smaller store spaces combined to push the retail vacancy rate along central New Jersey’s major shopping corridors to a six-year low of 7.6% from 9.8% in 2013, according to the latest study by R.J. Brunelli & Co. Looking back over the past 10 years, the 2014 figure compared with the high of 10.5% in 2011 and low of 3.4% in 2006.  

Arlington, Virginia –- Brick-and-mortar retailers have at least one good piece of news to cheer them up this fall. U.S. same-store retail sales were up 1.3%, or $3.9 billion, in October 2014, driven by a 2.2% increase in dollars per transaction, according to data from the Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) Index and historical U.S. Census data.   

Veteran apparel merchant Celia Clancy spent time at Bradlees, Walmart and TJX Companies. Now she is the newest member of struggling specialty retailer Body Central’s board of directors.

General Growth Properties has unveiled Adventure to Santa, a DreamWorks DreamPlace first-of-its-kind holiday experience that starts with Shrek, ends with Santa and seamlessly blends storytelling with cutting-edge technology.   

Cincinnati –- Half of all consumers dislike the idea of all-day Thanksgiving store shopping hours, although younger consumers are more open to it.   According to a survey of 1,001 U.S. consumers by loyalty services provider Loyalty One, 50% say all-day shopping hours on Thanksgiving Day are a bad idea that detracts from the traditional celebration.  

The retail inventory specialist firm WIS International named merchandising and marketing services veteran Jim Rose as its new president and CEO.

Rose most recently served as president of marketing services at CROSSMARK, a leading provider of marketing and merchandising services. Rose also previously served as chairman and CEO for Mosaic Sales Solutions and also held senior roles at The Nielsen Company and MPG, a global advertising and communications company.