Sales & Marketing

Restoration Hardware is delving further into interior design services.   The luxe home furnishings company is adding interactive design studios, called RH Design Ateliers, across its entire retail fleet this fall, including more than 50 markets throughout the United States and Canada.    In addition, the retailer has launched a fully integrated design platform, called RH Interior Design, designed to help customers create their dream living spaces.   

The Woodmont Company has hired Pendleton Mills real estate executive John Geddis to handle leasing at the firm’s growing outlet center portfolio. His title will be senior VP of brokerage services.   Geddis gained extensive experience on both the owner and tenant sides of the business in a 20-year career, with stints at Simon Property Group and General Growth Properties, as well as Samsonite. At Pendeton, he oversaw development for the company’s 50 owned retail and outlet locations.  

L.L. Bean has opened its first store in Cincinnati, at The Kenwood Collection mixed-use center.   The 15,000-sq.-ft. store includes an outpost of the Freeport, Maine-based retailer’s Outdoor Discovery School, which offer demonstrations, clinics and introductory hands-on activities like snowshoeing, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, archery and fly casting.  

Black Friday weekend is just around the corner. But as retailers remained focused on one-day sales, exclusive sneak peeks and door busters, they are missing the boat on a much more lucrative opportunity — Singles’ Day.  

The nation’s largest specialty toy retailer isn’t worried about any so-called Thanksgiving backlash.   Toys “R” Us announced plans to open its doors at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving — and keep them open (in nearly all locations) for 30 hours straight, closing them at 11 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 25. It’s the fourth consecutive year the chain has opened at 5 p.m. on the holiday.   

Creating a true “commerce-meets-content” experience, PetSmart introduced a new website that complements its omnichannel efforts.   Reflecting feedback from shoppers, the new PetSmart site takes a fresh approach to pet supply shopping by featuring new services that streamline how its customers shop and receive desired merchandise. In addition to one-page checkout for example, shoppers can also choose from tailored delivery options, like recurring subscription-based shipping, scheduled delivery and same-day delivery. 

J.C. Penney will celebrate Thanksgiving with an all-night shopping spree — complete with new shopping carts.    The retailer will open at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, similar to last year, and remain open until Friday, Nov. 25 at 10 p.m. Online shoppers will get a jump on holiday deals, with Penney’s Black Friday sale prices available online the day before, starting at midnight Nov. 23.  

While Singles’ Day has morphed into the world’s biggest shopping extravaganza, the event’s allure may be losing some luster.