Retail Stores

For the first time ever, Sears has launched an online points redemption system for its 5 million-plus card members, becoming one of the first major retailers to have a loyalty program in Canada.

New York & Co. reported a loss of $10.9 million in the fourth quarter, compared with net income of $14.9 million a year earlier. Sales dropped to $271.8 million from $303.2 million in the same quarter last year, missing Wall Street’s expected $275 million in revenue. Same-store sales fell 6.3 percent. Looking ahead, the retailer said it expects to open 11 outlet locations and one full-price store in the first quarter of 2012, as well as remodel four existing locations and close two stores, ending the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 with 542 stores.

Casual Male reported that net income for the quarter ended Jan. 28 surged to $33.5 million from $5.3 million in the year-ago period. Without a $23 million trademark impairment charge, net income was $5 million in the quarter. The company said it's focused on the expansion of its streamlined DXL concept, with plans to open 35 new stores in 2012. It will close approximately 70 Casual MaleXL and two Rochester Clothing stores during the year.

Five Below, a retailer of value merchandise for teens, pre-teens and beyond, is at it again in 2012. The retailer will open three new stores today, the first of 50 planned openings in 2012.

Drawing on her experience as co-owner of the lifestyle store Zona, Franci Sagar has created a selling environment at the Museum of Arts and Design in which it's tempting to linger.

Spanish fast-fashion brand Zara has opened a Fifth Avenue concept store. Located in the Tishman Building, the store is the retailer's largest U.S. outlet. It's located on Fifth Avenue with five display windows.

Sears plans to close 53 specialty stores in the first half of 2012, the company said in its annual report filed late Wednesday. The closings include 43 Sears hometown dealer stores and 10 Sears Hardware stores. Hometown stores are small hardware stores, usually operated by independent dealers in rural areas. 

Retail chain Abercrombie & Fitch recently submitted plans to take over a space on the Row for a children's wear store, and the proposal is proving unpopular. In interviews with British newspaper The Guardian, Savile Row tenants explain their anti-Abercrombie stance, seemingly borne out of a fear of competition, a fear of tourists, and a touch of quintessential British snobbery.

Want a side of culture with your shopping? Barneys New York is happy to deliver. The department store has teamed up with Exhibition A, the members-only contemporary art e-commerce site. Barneys’ shoppers can now swing through the store's Chelsea Passage to view and pick up prints by the likes of Spencer Sweeney, René Ricard, Max Snow and Lucien Smith, and signed books by Andreas Gursky, Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman.

Over the course of the last six months, Barnes & Noble has been employing an in-store boutique stand devoted to Penguin. The concept was to put an emphasis on books by the publishing powerhouse. It initially started with only 10 locations in the U.S. and is set to expand.