News

AT&T goes big in San Francisco, puts modern spin on historic building
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.
Limited CEO jumps ship for Chico’s
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.

West Elm isn’t the only retailer going into the hotel business

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.
Fire at distribution center cuts into Gap’s results

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 tops Street in September as some others disappoint

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.
Project Profiles

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
The Town Builders

Leading-edge developers, retailers bring stores to people, not people to stores
Placemaking, Steve Wynn style

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.
Redefining the space

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:
On the Level: A real estate column

Do we come to bury Jeff Bezos, or to praise him?
When I was a boy, my Cioci Mary (cioci is Polish for aunt) would occasionally treat me to a trip downtown in the small city where I grew up. We’d get a burger at Pappas’ diner and then head to W.T. Grant’s and she’d buy me candy, a comic book and a small toy. I mist up a little just thinking about it now, more than 50 years later.
You think a child of today, decades hence, will recall his aunt buying him a pair of sneakers on her laptop as fondly?
Whole Foods’ rapid solar rollout

Whole Foods Market is saving money and time — and benefiting the environment—by taking an innovative approach to going solar.
That’s according to an analysis by the Retail Industry Leaders Association and The Solar Foundation that found Whole Foods’ strategy of taking a standardized approach to rapid rollout of solar rooftop installations across multiple locations could be a valuable model for other retailers to consider.
Shop Talk

TRENDING STORES: PetSmart debuted a new store concept that puts a big emphasis on pet services. The 7,400-sq.-ft. PetSmart Pet Spa, in Oceanside, N.Y., is decidedly smaller than PetSmart’s typical footprint and features a self-service dog wash, a grooming salon and a coffee bar-lounge area. The overall modern design includes a circular “concierge” desk with a bakery full of dog treats.…Amazon Books plans to open its fourth location, a 7,200-sq.-ft. store in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.