Retail Stores

Since 1969, Gap has rallied around fun, joyfulness, optimism and inclusivity. It's a brand that was launched for the youth of America, and it still speaks to that demographic today. Even though target consumers aged over the decades, Gap's founding principles are unchanged and remain relevant. "Your long-term purpose and the tone of your brand and belief system should never change, but the way you express it can change time and time again," says Gap Chief Marketing Officer Seth Farbman. 

This summer, craft-focused retailer Etsy.com will expand into Etsy Wholesale. Instead of merchants simply selling to consumers, the commerce platform will now allow and support vendors who are producing and selling extremely large quantities of goods. The move signals a significant pivot from Etsy's handmade, small-scale origins. According to new rules, companies on Etsy Wholesale can hire merchandisers to make products for wholesale distribution. Best-case scenario: the woman you buy your hand-drawn stationery from lands a deal with Anthropologie. Worst-case scenario: those "handmade" items you'd buy for wholesale distribution are actually being produced en mass in factories.

J.C. Penney's first-quarter results were better than expected as lost customers start finding their way back to the retailer. The department store's 6.2 percent sales increase, a narrower loss and a new credit line all represented progress for the injured retailer. The sales increase was the second consecutive quarterly rise for Penney after two years of steep declines. Customer traffic was up in April for the first time in 30 months. That kind of deep hole doesn't fill back up quickly. Still, Penney CEO Mike Ullman was upbeat in a call with analysts.

Hear answers to the most-asked Amazon questions; best practices for retailers selling on Amazon; and what NOT to do on Amazon.

The brick-and-mortar storefront is no longer the only place customers can see the personal face of the business. Today's e-commerce is graduating into a new phase of personalization where customer segmentation capabilities and the ability to serve targeted content in real time are a viable reality for most online businesses.

The high-end lingerie store La Perla has removed mannequins from its SoHo-neighborhood boutique in New York City, following complaints that the dummies were too skinny. While skinny models are the norm in most stores, customers complained that La Perla's mannequins looked unhealthily thin. The outcry began Monday when passersby

RadioShack, which said in March it would close as many as 1,100 locations to cut costs, is proceeding with a plan to shut fewer stores because of a snag with its lender agreements. The company has been seeking consent from creditors to proceed with the full closure plan, though the terms being offered aren't acceptable, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that the impasse meant RadioShack could only close about 200 stores. 

Aéropostale is relegating itself to the bargain bin. The troubled teen retailer announced last week it's shuttering 125 of its mall-based P.S. from Aéropostale stores, which cater to younger kids ages 4-12. It's also canning 100 corporate jobs as part of a cost-saving measure. Aeropostale claims that shoppers’ spending habits are changing, especially among moms. The new strategy, particularly for the P.S. brand, will be more focused on e-commerce, outlets and international license deals. On top of that, the company closed 32 namesake stores in the fourth quarter and has plans for 50 more closures this year.

Barnes & Noble is turning to its college roots to boost its top line. The U.S. bookseller, which opened in 1965 as a university bookstore in New York, wants a much bigger presence on college campuses, where students last year spent an average of $1,200 on textbooks and supplies, according to the College Board. Barnes & Noble, now the second largest operator of college bookstores with 696 shops, plans to have about 1,000 locations within five years, Max Roberts, chief executive of the company's college business, said in an exclusive interview at Rutgers University's bookstore.

This year stirred up the pot of new store closings, not because the retail industry as a whole is in crisis, but because some retailers have found it difficult (or nearly impossible) to keep up in the fast-moving, competitive retailing environment.  Following the growth of e-commerce and mobile shopping, retailers have been forced to downsize brick-and-mortar locations in an attempt to "be where the customers are." Driving traffic to the web and mobile, consumers have cast their vote for which store experiences have value and which ones can be easily replaced.