News

Washington, D.C. -- Unexpectedly strong retail sales in the month of October point to a good holiday sales season ahead. According to the National Retail Federation, October retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, increased 2.5% seasonally adjusted over September, and 4.2% unadjusted from 2012.

When the new Nordstrom Rack opened at Mercato in Naples, Fla., in early November, 500 people somehow got into the store within the first five minutes. No kidding.

Nordstrom Rack replaced Books-A-Million in a 30,000 sq. ft. space in the center, joining several other new tenants including The Wine Loft, The Counter, MASA, Kelly Chase Couture and Mark Loren Designs, Le Macaron, Salon Zen AVEDA, Second Cup and TAPS Bar & Lounge.

Hispanic Heritage Month is a national observance that runs annually from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. President Ronald Reagan extended the observance from a week to a month in 1998.

The Macerich Company embraced Hispanic Heritage Month this year as a way of recognizing its large Hispanic customer base. Thirty-one Macerich properties hosted special events celebrating the richness of Latin culture throughout Hispanic Heritage Month.

The Sembler Company completed two major redevelopments during 2013. The company redeveloped the Nokomis Village Shopping Center in Nokomis, Fla., and Park 66 in Pinellas Park, Fla.

Anchored by a redeveloped Publix, which re-opened in mid-November, and Anthony’s Ladies Apparel, improvements to the 143,697-sq.-ft. Nokomis Village include building façade upgrades and landscaping. Inline tenants include Saltwater Café, New China Restaurant, Hot Nails, Ophelia’s Pasta and Subway.

Redwood City, Calif. -- Macy’s flagships in Herald Square, New York, and Union Square, San Francisco, are the first major retail locations to deploy Shopkick’s Apple iBeacon-based presence signal. The trial pairs Shopkick and Macy's, an inaugural Shopkick partner, at the forefront of the mobile in-store experience. Now in closed beta, the trial is anticipated to go live to Shopkick users within weeks.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe's Cos. net income rose 26% in the third quarter, just short of projections, amid the housing market's ongoing resurgence. The retailer raised its fiscal 2013 outlook, but its earnings forecast was still below expectations.

Lowe's earned $499 million for the period ended Nov. 1, up from $396 million last year. Its earnings were a penny per share short of Wall Street expectations.

Revenue rose 7% to $12.96 billion from $12.07 billion, beating analysts’ predictions. Same-store sales increased 6.2%.

Framingham, Mass. -- Staples reported net earnings of $135.2 million for the third quarter ended Nov. 2, compared with a loss of $596.2 million a year earlier.

Sales fell to $6.11 billion from $6.35 billion as the retailer was challenged by soft demand for its products and closed stores in Europe and North America. Same-store sales in North America, excluding sales through Staples.com, fell 3%.

West Palm Beach, Fla. -- FTI Consulting predicts a 4.9% increase in sales this holiday season in its 2013 Holiday Retail Report. Despite slowing discretionary spending growth in recent months and anxiety over political turmoil in Washington, FTI retail and consumer products industry professionals anticipate a potential silver lining to this holiday season.

San Jose, Calif. -- Propelics, a provider of enterprise mobile strategy and mobile apps, today announced strong adoption for its solutions in the retail market. The company said it helping such retailers as Family Dollar, Payless ShoeSource, and Hallmark as improve the customer, store associate, and store operations experience though the implementation of a solid enterprise mobile strategy.

Los Angeles -- Women are more responsive to mobile alerts detailing discounts and more likely than men to shop in-store to save on shipping costs, according to recent data from fashion shopping app Snapette, a business unit of PriceGrabber. The survey revealed that mobile ad spend grew by 81% this year, with women aged 25-34 driving the highest click through and conversation rates.