Retail

Minneapolis -- Target said it will introduce its Beauty Concierge program to 27 stores in Washington D.C., Northern Virginia and Baltimore on June 28. The program calls for an on-staff “Beauty Concierge” – a trained, brand-agnostic beauty advisor – who provides personal-care advice and beauty tips in the Target beauty aisle.

Queens, N.Y. -- South Korean skin care brand Amore has opened a 1,600-sq.-ft. store at The Shops at SkyView Center. The new store, which grand-opened on May 24, is located on Level B and joins Restoration Hardware Outlet, Target, Carter’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Marshall’s, Old Navy, Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy, among others.

Columbus, Ohio -- Express Inc. reported Thursday that its third-quarter net income fell 23% to $32.4 million, compared with $42.1 million in the same period last year. Results, impacted by heavier discounting and higher costs, still beat Wall Street’s estimates.  

Revenue climbed 3% to $508.5 million, solidly topping analysts’ estimate of $498 million and prompting the apparel retailer to lift its full-year earnings forecast. Same-store sales were flat in the quarter, after a 4% gain last year.

San Francisco -- Parent company Williams-Sonoma said that its PBteen banner will open its first store in southern California, at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks on Saturday, June 1.
 
The store will be anchored around a PBteen Design Lab, where teens and their parents can engage with the brand and its products by digitally creating a personalized room on a computer monitor. Using drag and drop technology, teens can experiment with different room configurations and color combinations and see it come to life on a television screen overhead.

Chicago -- Ebay, Walmart and McDonalds are tops when it comes to in-store charity donations, according to a study by Cause Marketing Forum that ranked the largest consumer donations at the point-of-sale last year. More than $358 million was raised in 2012 through a total of 63 corporate-backed charity checkout campaigns identified by Cause Marketing.

New York -- MPI has reported a significant increase in leasing volume within its core retail portfolio during the first four months of 2013 vs. the same period last year.

As of May 1, MPI has executed 23 new lease deals, many with new to the market tenants, representing a total of 113,900 sq. ft. throughout its national retail portfolio.  

On a year-over-year basis, the company has seen the number of new leases grow by 28%.
 

Lyndhurst, N.J. -- Crossroads Cos. has been named leasing agent and property manager for Veterans Square Shopping Center, located on New York Avenue in Lyndhurst, N.J.

The 144,400-sq.-ft. neighborhood shopping center’s tenant roster includes a free-standing ShopRite, Home Goods and a mix of national, regional and neighborhood businesses.

Washington, D.C. -- Douglas Development said it has teamed with CBRE on a new boutique office and retail project in Washington, D.C.’s Penn Quarter neighborhood.

The 11-story office building will occupy approximately 93,000 sq. ft., and include 7,000 sq. ft. of ground-floor retail space. The building will offer two floors of below grade parking, outdoor terraces, and a terracotta façade.