REAL ESTATE

Closing time for The Limited stores
Apparel retailer The Limited is out of the brick-and-mortar retail business. The ailing chain, which has quietly been closing stores around the country for the past couple of weeks, announced the news with a short statement on its website on Friday, Jan. 6. The move was not unexpected. Limited has struggled amid increased competition from fast-fashion upstarts, both offline and online.
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.

Amazon’s expansion into brick-and-mortar taking it to NYC

New Yorkers will have a new way to browse Amazon’s best-selling book titles — in a physical store. Later this year, the retail giant will open a book store in Manhattan’s Shops at Columbus Circle, in the Time Warner Center, according to ReCode.
PREIT gets proactive in replacing Sears stores

PREIT CEO Joseph Coradino is pursuing a take-charge course in dealing with department store attrition, announcing that his company is actively pursuing replacements for three Sears anchors he expects to close in 2017.
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.
CBRE acquires real estate tech company

CBRE announced it has acquired Floored, a provider of 3-D graphics technology that helps retailers envision build-outs of their commercial space. Its SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions figure to quickly be incorporated into CBRE’s leasing operations.
Gracious Homes New York location up for grabs

Gracious Homes’ lease on a 17,000-sq.-ft. store in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan is on the auction block. The location, which has 70 ft. of frontage on 25th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue is being made available at a “substantially below market” rate, according to Andy Graiser, co-president of A&G Realty Partners, which is handling the auction for the retailer that recently filed for bankruptcy protection.
Millennials will buoy retail in 2017

Noted retail real estate expert Faith Hope Consolo has high hopes for 2017, predicting that bigger-spending millennials and recession-proof retailers will keep sales humming on high streets and in malls, if not in department stores. “Millennials are going to start shopping differently this coming year,” Consolo told Chain Store Age. “It used to be they’d spend up to 75% of their disposable income on food, but that was a fad. This year, they will start spending more on fitness and fashion.”
Sears announces new round of store closings

Sears Holdings’ store portfolio continues to shrink. The struggling retailer told employees on Tuesday that it will close 30 Sears and Kmart stores in early 2017, reported Business Insider.
Puerto Rican shoe chain makes U.S. debut at Pembroke Lakes

Novus, the shoe retailer with 40 years’ experience and 60 stores in Puerto Rico, has opened its first stateside location at Florida’s Pembroke Lakes Mall. “Novus is aware of the importance of the South Florida market and the large Puerto Rican population of more than 300,000 currently residing in the area that has a close identification with the brand,” said Grupo Novus Marketing Director Sandra Castellon of the brands first steps into the U.S. market.