Retail Stores

It looks like Americans are ready to open up their wallets again. According to a new report from the Commerce Department, retail spending is up 1.1 percent from January and 4.6 percent from February 2012. That's the biggest rise in five months, according to Reuters, far better than the 0.5 percent boost economists had predicted. Paired with last month's positive jobs report, does this mean the U.S. economy is on the mend?

Retail sales beat estimates in February as consumers quickly adapted and adjusted their spending in response to an increase in payroll taxes and higher gasoline prices. According to the National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, February retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.7 percent seasonally adjusted from January and increased 0.5 percent unadjusted year-over-year.

Attempts to re-position J.C. Penney as a hip new kind of retail destination have yet to pay off, but some think there's another way the company can shore up its financial position: make some money off its impressive portfolio of commercial property. In a note today, analysts at BTIG argue the retailer's owned and leased property is "an asset which we believe can be accessed to the benefit of equity investors."

Habitat for Humanity will celebrate the opening of its new Southeast Portland "ReStore" in the Gateway district on Friday. The nonprofit once held occasional garage sales to offload extra building material from its home sites, but its retail arm has mushroomed into three locations expected to bring in $475,000 this year for Habitat projects. The store, at 10445 SE Cherry Blossom Dr., also will accept donations. Habitat for Humanity projects that the three locations -- including the stores in Beaverton and Vancouver -- will bring in as much as $1 million annually within five years.

Foot Locker ended Q4 2012 with a 7.9 percent increase in comparable store sales. The retailer will increase its CapEx spending for 2013 by $60 million with significant increases in IT spending, improvements to the in-store experience and the expansion of its...

The recent Macy's/J.C. Penney's flap over Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia reminds me of The Celebrity Apprentice — it may be wild, embarrassingly funny, and hugely entertaining (for awhile), but it's no way to run a business. Among the many...

Nordstrom is the nation's favorite fashion retail chain, according to an annual consumer study conducted by Market Force Information, a worldwide leader in customer intelligence solutions. The upscale department store edged out Kohl's, which had ranked first in the three previous studies. This year, Kohl's moved to the No. 2 spot overall, followed by Macy's, Dillard's and J.C. Penney.

Department store J.C. Penney laid off about 2,200 employees in its stores and district offices on Wednesday, according to a report from The Dallas Morning News. These cuts follow another 19,000 employees that have been laid off in the past year since the company began its transformation with Chief Executive Ron Johnson at the helm.

J.C. Penney, the storied if unglamorous retailer, is in trouble. Big trouble. Fourth-quarter earnings came out last Wednesday and they were terrible. The bad news starts with a quarterly loss of $427 million, but it doesn't end there. Comparable store sales — i.e., stores that were open this past quarter and also open in the same quarter of the previous year — fell by a mind-boggling 32 percent. Henry Blodget says it may have been the worst quarter posted by any retailer ever.

This issue's Check it Out profiles a company that couldn't be more aptly named for the department: Coupons at Checkout. Yes, check out what this company is doing on retailers' checkout pages. OK, enough with the bad forced puns and onto the serious business.