Retail

Guangzhou, China -- Vipshop Holdings Limited, a Chinese online discount retailer for brands, has appointed Lily Fan as the company's VP of human resources, effective Dec. 2.

Disposition firm: A&G Realty Partners

Number of properties: 600

Locations: 95% in strip centers, with the balance in middle market malls across the United States

Status: A&G successfully terminated more than 300 leases. The balance had natural lease expirations.

Canadian retailer Jersey City unifies store and online operations

San Francisco – West Elm is scheduled to open the company's first U.K. store in London on Dec. 5. The 12,000-sq.-ft. store will feature furniture, textiles, accessories and gifts, as well as a West Elm Market shop-in-shop and coffee shop. The store will employ 30 full- and part-time sales associates.

The London store will include a Local Gallery Wall featuring art from U.K. artists sourced through Etsy, the online marketplace for handmade or vintage items. The wall is curated by Will Taylor of the blog Bright.Bazaar.

Regional department store operator Gordmans Stores said its fourth quarter same store sales are likely to decline in the mid-single digits after it reported a 6.1% drop in comps for the third quarter ended November 2.

Despite the comp decline, Gordman’s total sales at its 93 stores increased 5.8% to $151.3 million from $143.1 million due to the addition of 10 new stores in the prior nine months. Net income for the third quarter was $1.1 million, or six cents a share, compared to net income of $4 million, or 21 cents a share, last year.

While owners and developers are redeveloping, expanding and beginning to plan new developments across the Northeast, property surpluses created by the recession remain. Where are these surpluses? How will they be disposed of? Chain Store Age asked Andy Graiser, co-president of A&G Realty Partners, to talk about disposition today in the Northeast. Graiser is a property disposition expert with more than 25 years of experience with retail real estate.

Characterize surplus retail real estate in the Northeast.

Data center retrofit cuts cooling costs by 93%

Retailers are constantly on the hunt for energy savings, and data centers offer huge potential: By 2020, data centers could consume 10% of all U.S. power, according to some experts. Here’s how outdoor gear and apparel retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) is working to reduce energy costs and its environmental footprint in this critical area of operations.

Seattle – Amazon.com hopes to someday deliver packages to its customers using unmanned drone aircraft.

According to numerous media reports, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said during an interview on the TV news program 60 Minutes aired Dec.1 that the company is currently testing the use of drones to pick up customer orders in buckets from fulfillment centers to enable delivery within 30 minutes of a customer executing an online transaction.