Sales & Marketing

Dollar General is setting records with its upcoming employment search.   With plans to open 1,000 new stores and two new state-of-the-art distribution centers this year, the chain is preparing to fill approximately 10,000 new jobs — about a 9% overall increase to its workforce.    The hiring spree marks the largest one-year employee increase through organic store and distribution center growth in the company’s 78-year history, the chain said.  

Gap is testing an augmented reality app that lets shoppers "try on” its apparel without ever entering a store.    The app, called DressingRoom by Gap, lets customers virtually try on merchandise via their smartphone, according to a report by PSFK. It uses Avametric technology backed by the Google Tango platform and ASUS hardware.    

Unified commerce has become the holy grail of retail as companies embark on the next-generation of the store environment — one that drives a top-notch, frictionless, non-frustrating and valuable customer experience.  

Ivanka Trump-branded items will soon be a thing of the past at Nordstrom.  

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is making a new strategic investment — one that will up the ante in the hyper-competitive e-commerce marketplace.  

Levin Management Corp. has been named as the exclusive managing agent for two New Jersey shopping centers — Raintree Towne Center in Freehold and Mansfield Plaza in Hackettstown.   The 134,000-sq.-ft. Raintree is anchored by a Stop & Shop supermarket and includes CVS, Starbucks, and Hallmark. It is located on Route 537 near the CentraState Medical Center and Freehold Raceway Mall.   Mansfield Plaza, a 156,000-sq.-ft. property, features a 14-screen Cinepolis complex and a ShopRite supermarket.

The Wet Seal has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in a little over two years.   The move comes after the struggling teen apparel retailer said it planned to close all its stores after it was unable to find a buyer or fresh capital.  The company’s website is still selling merchandise, with all goods discounted.     

Dillard’s has signed an agreement to move into a shuttered Macy’s store at the Layton Hills Mall in Layton, Utah, north of Salt Lake City. Construction on the 160,000-sq.-ft. site is set to begin in April, looking toward a fall 2017 opening.