Sales & Marketing

Inspired by its West Hollywood Design District locale, Lululemon’s new store on Melrose Avenue offers a sleek, stylish and modern shopping environment.    Modern ivy leaf-inspired patterns throughout the interior and exterior, along with the use of reclaimed red wood and iron spot brick, highlight the architectural components of the 2,750-sq.-ft. space.    

Urban Outfitters posted sales and earnings for its third quarter that failed to meet analysts expectation amid a traffic slowdown and increased promotions at its Anthropologie and Free People stores.   Urban Outfitters earned $47 million, or 40 cents a share, in the third quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with $52 million, or 42 cents a share, in the year-ago period.   Sales rose 5% to $862 million, compared with $825 million a year ago. Same-store sales, which include online, rose 1%.  

Among cities with more than 250,000 residents, Plano, Texas, has the highest median income in the land at $104,000. It’s also one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities, so Eden’s Preston Towne Crossing and Berkeley Square in Plano have expanded and upgraded their food and beverage options in kind.   Recently opened at Preston Towne Crossing are SusieCakes Bakery, a specialist in old-fashioned sweets, cookies, and cakes, and Vom Fass, a purveyor of cask-aged vinegars, oils, wines, and spirits.  

Furniture manufacturer Herman Miller continues its transformation from a maker of modern office furniture to a lifestyle brand with the opening of its first retail store.     The 6,000-sq.-ft. Herman Miller store is located on the ground and second floors of Herman Miller's flagship building on Park Avenue South in Manhattan. The building houses corporate office space for Maharam, Design Within Reach, and Geiger — all Herman Miller owned companies — along with commercial showrooms for Herman Miller and Geiger.

Restoration Hardware Holdings continues to expand, opening a 60,000-sq.-ft. store in Seattle at University Village.

Kirkland's has named its very first COO.    The home décor retailer named Mike Cairnes as executive VP and COO, effective November 28, 2016.   Cairnes brings 25 years of experience in home décor retailing and manufacturing to Kirkland's. He was most recently with Michael's Stores, where he served concurrently as president of its Aaron's Brothers retail business, since 2015, and president of its Artistree framing business, since 2007.    

As the holidays approach, this group of retailers is feeling very confident about its financial health.        Eighty-percent of middle-market retailers (revenue between $5 million and $2.9 billion) rated their overall financial condition as healthy or very healthy in the 8th annual CIT Retail Outlook. Sixty-percent expect an increase in total sales of more than 5% for the 2016 holiday season, compared to only 33% three years ago.    

As PetSmart continues to expand its brick-and-mortar presence across North America, it also is working on its next generation store.    The company opened its 1,500th store, in Sheridan, Colorado. One of approximately 80 new locations the retailer is opening in 2016, the 18,000-sq.-ft. Sheridan store offers a full line of pet supply products along with pet training and adoption services and a full-service grooming salon.