Retail Stores

Retail is an enormous and profitable industry. Global sales were projected to top $24 trillion in 2015 and are expected to grow another 3.2 percent this year, making the magnates who run the sector's largest companies even wealthier. We recently released our list of the 50 richest people on earth based on data from Wealth-X, which…

On Tuesday, the CEO of General Growth Properties, one of the largest developers of mall properties in the United States, announced during his company’s earnings call that he knew of Amazon.com's plans to build “300 to 400 bookstores.” That sent the internet into a frenzy, with many speculating on the online retailer’s presumably ironic plans…

For most of the past 20 years, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has let another company build and operate gas stations in the parking lots of its stores. Now, the retailer has decided it wants to pump its own gasoline. Last week, Wal-Mart executives told Murphy USA Inc. that going forward it will build and operate its own…

The CEO of a huge mall operator said Amazon.com has plans to take its Seattle brick-and-mortar bookstore experiment to hundreds of locations across the country. In an earnings call with analysts, General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani said Amazon’s goal “is to open, as I understand, 300 to 400 bookstores.” The executive was discussing how malls are…

Coach seems to be achieving the nearly unattainable in retail: giving a brand that was cheapened by years of discounts its luster back. The handbag maker reported on Tuesday that net sales rose 7 percent to $1.27 billion in its second fiscal quarter ended Dec. 26, buoyed by growth in China and its men’s lines. More importantly,…

What with little movement among its winter outerwear and handbag inventory, and sliding quarterly sales overall, department stores have had their fair share of struggles recently. In order to adapt to the changing market, Macy's has tapped beauty franchise (and Sephora's biggest competitor) Bluemercury, launched a shop-in-shop concept with Korean beauty e-commerce pioneer Peach & Lily,…

Getting its sunglasses out of gas stations was a key first step. Nowadays, Ray-Ban sunglasses can be found selling for as much as $300 at high-end stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus. The brand recently opened its first ever flagship store, a sleek emporium in the heart of Manhattan’s shopping mecca, SoHo. And if you walk around…

New York-area retail vets Ronny Shmoel and Albert Liniado are betting that the third time will be a charm for Circuit City. The duo, now working under the name Circuit City Corp., acquired the brand, domain and associated trademarks in October from IT supplier Systemax, which bought them in a bankruptcy auction but abandoned the U.S. retail channel…

With one of its biggest partners shrinking the number of stores it operates, Under Armour is making an aggressive bid this year to control its own future. The Baltimore-based athletic wear brand will open a whopping 200 stores in 2016, said Under Armour Founder and CEO Kevin Plank in a keynote speech at the annual National Retail…

My father used to have a saying, “If you own a worm store, remember you aren’t simply selling worms, rather you're selling them the ability to catch the biggest fish.” While dad would be hard-pressed to tell you the difference between cashmere and cotton/polyester blend, it's amazing how much mid-tier retailers can learn from this…