Supply Chain & Merchandising

New York -- In its ongoing efforts to reduce costs, Sears Holding Corp. is cutting jobs.  

The struggling retailer will cuts 115 jobs, including 100 at its Hoffman Estates, Illinois, headquarters, the Chicago Tribune reported.
 
 

Minneapolis -- Shorenstein Properties LLC and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th announced that Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th has signed a lease for 40,321 sq. ft. in the retail portion of Minneapolis City Center, continuing the fashion retailer’s 25-year presence in downtown Minneapolis. The new store is slated to open April 2016.

“This city has been a strong market for us, and Minneapolis City Center provides us with a vibrant location in which to serve our exceedingly loyal customers,” said Jonathan Greller, president of Outlets, HBC.

Columbus, Ohio -- Ikea announced that it is submitting plans to the City of Columbus, Ohio, for a store that would increase the Swedish furniture retailer’s Ohio presence to two stores. The newest store, located in the Polaris Centers of Commerce development about 15 miles north of downtown Columbus, is slated to open summer 2017.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has cleared the merger of supermarket operators Safeway Inc. and Albertsons, creating a larger competitor to rival chain Kroger. But there is one caveat.

The FTC agreed to the deal only after Safeway and Albertsons agreed to sell 168 stores to address the FTC’s competition concerns.

Los Angeles - Savings.com has launched Favado 2.0, a redesigned version of the grocery community savings app. The sale and coupon data in Favado 2.0 is aggregated by grocery saving experts throughout the country and presented in a new visual format.

ShoeBuy, a global online retailer of shoes and clothing, is expanding into footwear manufacturing.

The company has acquired a minority stake in Boston Boot Company. Now, the complete Boston Boot Company product line will be available at ShoeBuy.com, bringing the brand to millions of shoppers. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Overall holiday shopping season sales numbers have been rolling in, and the news confirms what many retail real estate analysts (including myself) suspected: 2014 holiday sales were strong. Nothing earth-shattering — but plenty good enough to chalk this one up as a win. There were some bright and not-so-bright spots (December sales were weaker than expected, for example, and numbers didn’t hit some of the more optimistic overall projections), but the takeaway is that we did see the anticipated increase that the industry was looking for.

Clarksville, Tenn. -- Francesca’s Collections will open a 1,353-sq.-ft. store at Cafaro’s Governor’s Square Mall, in Clarksville, Tennessee. The new store, located across from Gap/Gap Kids, is slated to open May 2015.

Governor’s Square Mall, owned and managed by Cafaro Company, comprises over one million sq. ft. of retail space. It is anchored by Dillard’s, Belk, Sears, J.C. Penney, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Target, Cinema Ten and over 100 other specialty shops and services.