News

Amazon Restaurants invites Alexa to dinner
Amazon’s new service is helping Prime members to get dinner on the table faster. By integrating Alexa into Amazon Restaurants, the retail giant now enables Prime members to voice-order their next meal through their Alexa-enabled devices, including the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. Customers can place orders from any restaurant available on the service in more than 20 cities by saying, “Alexa, order from Amazon Restaurants.” Any meal they’ve ordered before will delivered to their door for free in an hour or less.
Report: Department store retailer losing top digital exec
The chief technology officer of Nordstrom is leaving the company after less than a year on the job. Kumar Srinivasan is leaving the upscale department store company effective Friday, Jan. 7, to return to India, GeekWire reported. Srinivasan, who joined Nordstrom in March, after serving as the co-founder and CEO of software company Evocalize. Prior to that, he was the former general manager at Amazon Payments Merchant Solutions unit

Online powerhouse among retailers looking to buy American Apparel

A few familiar retail names are reportedly in discussions to buy American Apparel. Amazon and Forever 21 are among the companies in talks with the bankrupt manufacturing and retail company and its advisors about submitting offers ahead of a deadline on Friday, Reuters reported.
Utah mall has replacement lined up for closing Macy’s

CBL announced that it has a replacement anchor lined up for the Macy’s store closing at its Layton Hills Mall in Utah, one of 63 Macy’s locations slated to be shuttered this spring. One other Utah Macy’s is scheduled to close at Cottonwood Mall in Salt Lake City.
Mortgage expert: Look to unsexy cities for retail growth

Retailers and developers looking for potential expansion spots in the coming year should bypass Gotham and head to Grand Rapids.
Walgreens Q1 profit tops as it moves toward closing Rite Aid deal

Walgreens Boots Alliance on Thursday reported a better-than-expected profit for its first quarter and also said an announcement that it has closed the deal on its proposed acquisition of Rite Aid would come soon. Walgreens confirmed it is actively engaged in discussions with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its pending Rite Aid acquisition, which was announced more than 14 months ago. Also subject to FTC approval is the sale of 865 Rite Aid locations to Fred's for almost $1 billion.
Gymboree transitions to mobile POS

As it creates new brick-and-mortar formats, Gymboree went in search of a flexible point-of-sale system. Now it has one. The children’s specialty chain added a mobile POS system from Aptos — a move that enables store associates to engage shoppers throughout their store visit. Associates use the mobile devices to process secure transactions, manage inventory, and access order information — without ever leaving the customer’s side.
Sears sells top brand, closing more stores

Sears Holdings Corp. is seeking to stop its bleeding and raise more cash by closing another 104 stores and selling its iconic Craftsman tools brand. The struggling retailer said it has reached an agreement to sell Craftsman to Stanley Black & Decker for a net present value of about $900 million, including future royalty payments. Sears, which will continue to sell Craftsman products, had put the brand, along with its Kenmore and DieHard brands, up for sale several months ago.
Macy’s details store closings, restructuring amid poor holiday sales

Macy’s gave more information about its previously announced store closing plans as it unveiled a series of actions to streamline its store portfolio, intensify cost efficiency efforts and execute its real estate strategy.
The 25 people shaping retail’s future are…

A 12-year-old CEO is among the 25 individuals named to the National Retail Foundation’s 2017 List of People Shaping Retail’s Future. Mikaila Ulmer, founder and CEO of Me & The Bees Lemonade http://gala.nrf.com/the-list-2017#MIKAILA-ULMER, is the youngest of the list’s honorees, all of whom will be recognized at the NRF Foundation Gala on January 15 during the NRF Big Show in New York City.
Finding a New Outlet

New retailers and new consumers (read: millennials) are discovering value retail, and that means more outlet centers in more locales in more different configurations.
Expanding North

DLC Management Corp.’s grocery-anchored shopping centers can be found in places such as Dallas; Milwaukee; Columbus, Ohio; and Birmingham, Ala.; but the company has a special stake in the Northeast. In October, DLC closed the biggest deal in its history, acquiring a passel of 16 centers, all but one of them in New York state. Chain Store Age Real Estate Editor Al Urbanski talked with DLC CEO Adam Ifshin and asked him what retailers need to know about the Northeast market.