News

L’Occitane has gone high-tech in its New York City flagship.   Located in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, the renovated store seeks to addressing the demands of today’s shoppers for immediacy and information while also channeling the rich heritage and culture of the brand’s Provence, France, roots.     

Holiday procrastinators may have saved retailers this year.       A jump in consumer spending in the final home stretch helped to offset a slow start to the U.S. holiday shopping season, and is likely to help many retailers beat sales forecasts, Reuters reported.    

Los Angeles-based Nasty Gal, which filed for bankruptcy protection in November, may soon have a British owner.   Boohoo.com is bidding $20 million (£16.3 million) for the brand and its customer databases as the “stalking horse” candidate. Based in Manchester, England, Boohoo specializes in fast-fashion and targets teens and young women, the same audience as Nasty Gal.      

Phase one of a $15 million redevelopment of a 304,755-sq.-ft. neighborhood center in Inglewood, California, has been completed, according to owner NewMark Merrill.   Initial improvements at Crenshaw Imperial Plaza focused on remodeling the DD’s Discounts and 99 Cents Only stores. In Phase 2, a two-story building will be demolished to make room for a Planet Fitness and a 14,215-sq.-ft. retail building. A 15,000-sq.-ft. Mission View Charter School will also be part of the new mix in the center, which NewMark Merrill purchased in 2015.

Early in the 20th Century, the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio was the largest in Texas, and it continued to be a renowned site in the city until brewing operations were shut down in the 1980s. It remained vacant until Rio Perla purchased it in 2001 and set about transforming it into the Pearl Brewery/Full Goods Warehouse, a 26-acre mix of residences, retail, offices, and gathering places.   

New Seasons Market in Mercer Island, Washington, has gone platinum.    The new supermarket received EPA GreenChill Platinum Certification for its efforts in reducing refrigerant emissions (by at least 95%). The 37,000-sq.-ft. store uses a natural refrigerant solution designed for minimal greenhouse gas emissions and superior energy efficiency.   

The comeback of downtown Detroit, led by the expansive District Detroit project under construction, was advanced this week with the opening of The Scott at Brush Park. The upscale, mixed-use development of Broder & Sachse Real Estate and Sachse Construction is located about eight blocks north of District Detroit on Woodward Avenue.   

Nothing like doing a little shopping as presents are being unwrapped.   E-commerce traffic volume on Christmas Day shattered all previous records according to Verizon Enterprise Solutions’ Holiday Retail Index report.   The report finds that traffic continued to build into the Christmas weekend, and reached feverish pitch on Christmas Day which also coincided this year with the first full day of Hanukkah.