Retail

Houston, Texas — Baker Katz has acquired four retail properties throughout the greater Houston area — in the neighboring cities of Port Arthur, Lake Jackson, Beaumont and Tomball.

The Port Arthur property is a 90,000-sq.-ft., single-tenant building purchased from the Sutherland Lumber Co. for an undisclosed amount. Baker Katz plans to renovate the building and convert it to a multi-tenant space. Hobby Lobby has signed a 58,000-sq.-ft. lease, and Party City has signed a lease for 13,000 sq. ft.

Seattle - Tommy Bahama has selected customer experience management (CEM) software from Medallia to help better understand and improve customer experience. Using Medallia¹s real-time CEM software, Tommy Bahama will build the vendor’s “Voice of the Customer (VoC)” customer feedback and reporting program into its operations to improve customer experience and drive loyalty.

Minneapolis – Tile Shop Holdings Inc. reported net income of $3.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, a substantial improvement from a net loss of $44.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The retailer plans to open 20 new stores during fiscal 2014.

San Jose, Calif. – A $3 billion tax charge on foreign profits resulted in EBay Inc. reporting a net loss of $2.33 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2013, compared to net earnings of $677 million in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year. Analysts had expected EBay to report net earnings for the quarter, although EBay paid the tax charge in the process of making about $6 billion in offshore cash available.

Chicago -- Mobile (including tablet), marketing and personalization were the top three issues that retailers will devote the most time to in 2014, according to the e-tailing group’s 13th Annual Merchant Survey. Omni-channel and platform rounded out the top five concerns.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens has been named the Best Integrated Mobile Experience for its Paperless Coupons program in the 18th Annual Webby Awards, which are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS).

New York – Analytics solutions provider Ugam is enhancing its pricing intelligence solution with a new pricing engine that delivers real-time, on-demand pricing data for millions of products. The pricing engine monitors online retail prices and consumer signals, and combines that information with proprietary and third-party data to enable retailers to dynamically price items.