News

Walmart has gone into high gear in its fight to challenge Amazon.   The chain is on track to double the number of warehouses dedicated to online sales to 10 by the end of 2016, according to a report on nbcnews.com.    

AT&T is pulling out all the stops in San Francisco, opening its largest, most elaborate and most tech-centered store to date.   The new, two-level 24,000-sq.-ft. flagship is housed in an historic building located next to the busy and popular cable car turnaround on Powell Street. Constructed in 1908, the building has been restored from floor to ceiling back to its original Baroque architectural design.    

Chico's FAS announced that Diane Ellis has been appointed president of its Chico’s brand, effective November 1, 2016.      Ellis joins Chico's from The Limited, where she has served as CEO and president since 2013.       Prior to The Limited, Ellis spent six years as president and COO of Brooks Brothers, where she led the stores, ecommerce, IT, HR, sourcing, product development, finance, supply chain and planning functions in support of the global operations of the brand.

Hotels may just be the new frontier for retailers.    Shinola, the quirky company best known for its pricey watches, bikes and leather goods, already has its headquarters, manufacturing arm and a flagship in Detroit. Next on the agenda: a 130-room-plus boutique hotel.  

The fire is out, but its effects will linger.   Gap Inc. on Thursday reported a 3% decline in same-store sales for September, and said it expects the fire that occurred at the end of August at its distribution center in Fishkill, New York, will negatively impact its October comp-sales by approximately 3 percentage points and also have a negative impact on its comp-sales results in its fourth quarter.   

L Brands, operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, posted a better-than-expected 3% increase in same-store sales for September.      The retailer’s results were fueled by a 9% increase in comp sales at its Bath & Body Works brand. L Brands’ net sales rose 6% to $919.9 million in September.   The handful of other retailers who still report same-store sales did not fare so well.  

Park West Village

Location: Cary/Morrisville, North Carolina

Size: Approximately 750,000 sq. ft.

Owner: CASTO

Key tenants: Target, T.J. Maxx, Buy Buy Baby, Ross, PetSmart, Earth Fare, Chili’s, Travinia, Hallmark, Carter’s, Gander Mountain, Stone Theatres, Chico’s, White House Black Market, ULTA, Pier 1, Charming Charlie’s, Firebirds, Blackfinn Ameripub, LOFT, Starbucks

Leading-edge developers, retailers bring stores to people, not people to stores

Founded by Don and Barbara Brinkerhoff nearly a half century ago, Lifescapes International made its bones as an architectural landscaping firm on the Vegas Strip, where it created the fire show at The Mirage and the water show at the Bellagio. What the founding couple learned in Vegas, their daughter, Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, now applies to retail and lifestyle centers like Triple Five’s American Dream and Rockefeller Center’s Channel Gardens.

Retailers, developers attempt to turn shopping centers into gathering places with stores

Digital moves fast. Business people who disregard the devastating waves of changes it leaves will inevitably be engulfed by them. Consider this rising marketplace tsunami detected by Deloitte Consulting: