Stores Magazine - November 2007 - (Page 22) trEnDS 10 THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED Stewart Collection, bed and bath textiles, cookware, dinnerware, glassware, flatware, cookware, holiday decorations and utensils are grouped in “shops” within various departments at Macy’s full-line stores carrying home goods (cooks’ tools, for example, can be found in The Cellar). Goal! Wal-Mart’s effort to sell 100 million energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) took only about a year rather than the 15 months the company had originally estimated. Replacing traditional light bulbs with CFLs can save consumers up to $350 annually, the company said, and switching 100 million is the equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the road or conserving the energy needed to power 450,000 single-family homes. Changing hands … Finlay, which made its name operating jewelry departments in leased sections of department stores, continues to diversify into specialty store retailing with the $200 million acquisition of Bailey Banks & Biddle from Zale Corp. The 70 standalone stores in 24 states serve an upscale market for jewelry and watches under high-end brand names. Finlay also operates the Carlyle and Congress store chains. Compiled by David P. Schulz 6 which offers a variety of coffees, teas and snacks to be consumer-leisurely. 1 Dying breed … “We tried to sell the store to people, but nobody wanted to run it the way we wanted to run a store,” said Milt Pivar, explaining why the 111-yearold Goldmann’s department store in Milwaukee closed its doors at the end of September. Pivar and his brother-inlaw, Jerry Lewis, bought the store from Allen Goldmann in 1988, but Pivar’s attachment was nearly a half-century longer: he started working there as a 12-year-old in 1942. 4 Off-target … The redand-white bull’seye target so familiar to U.S. shoppers belongs to digital music provider Music Choice, at least in the United Kingdom. Ending a four-year legal battle, the Intellectual Property Office ruled that Music Choice registered the bull’s-eye trademark in 2001 and that Target Corp. would have to come up with another logo if it wanted to do business in Britain. 2 Less underwear … In an effort to redefine itself, Victoria’s Secret is adding sportswear and luggage to supplement its successful Pink line for younger shoppers. The VSK sportswear line is being tested at 30 malls this fall. To accommodate the changes, Victoria’s Secret has increased the size of its prototype from 6,000 to 11,000 sq. ft. and plans to retrofit 80 percent of its stores over the next five years. 5 Loonies fly south … For the first time since 1976, there is parity between the greenback and the loonie, named for the bird depicted on the Canadian dollar coin. Shoppers are crossing the border to take advantage of the newly inexpensive merchandise in U.S. stores, and those staying overnight can return with $400 in merchandise without paying any duty (daytrippers are limited to $50). Minnesota’s Mall of America reports a 15 percent increase in Canadian visitors; a million Canadians are expected to visit New York City this year, ranking behind only Great Britain as a source of foreign visitors. Coffee wars … McDonald’s plans to have 500 McCafés in Germany by the end of next year – five times the number of Starbucks locations in that country. Starbucks, however, has opened its first store in Russia, where McDonald’s has yet to open a McCafé, 7 Plus-size purchase … Redcats USA, the catalog and e-commerce marketer of apparel and home goods, has acquired New Jersey-based United Retail Group, parent of the 483store Avenue chain and Avenue.com, which sell plus-size women’s apparel, footwear and accessories. Redcats, a subsidiary of Paris-based department store retail group PPR, owns the Chadwick’s, Roaman’s, Jessica London, KingSize and Brylane Home brands. The transaction is worth approximately $200 million. 9 8 Join the party … Macy’s has joined Kmart, Costco, Lowe’s and Zeller’s in offering a line of Martha Stewart products. Called the Martha 3 Slow going … Small retailers and neighborhood shopping centers are finding the going sluggish in the current economy, with vacancy rates creeping up even though rents showed their smallest increase in four years. “There’s uncertainty in the market about how consumers will react to the changing market conditions,” Sam Chandan, chief economist for real estate research firm Reis, said in assessing matters at the end of the third quarter. “For the larger national chains and regional malls, it has yet to translate into a significant shift in the occupancy rate.” 10 22 STORES / NOVEMBER 2007 WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG
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