Retail Stores

Between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores will be closed, the retailer said this morning, after terrible holiday sales during what's the most crucial time of the year for retailers. Sears has yet to determine which stores will be closed, but there has been a clear shift in where the retailer will devote its resources.

Here’s psfk's annual look at the most creative, eye-catching, and artistic holiday window displays from retailers around New York City. Some of our examples successfully use strong visual presentation to grab attention. Bergdorf Goodman transformed paper, glass and metal into a series of animal themed displays. Saks constructed three-dimensional cartoon machinery which ‘made’ bubbles.

As the clock counts down to Christmas Day, retailers have begun a big push to snare procrastinating shoppers searching frantically for last-minute gifts and hoping for final-weekend deals. Relishing the prospect of many all-day shoppers Saturday, stores across the nation are also extending hours, cutting prices and renewing bargain offers.

Holiday shoppers continued to make the retail cash registers ring last week, boosting sales 21.7 percent over the previous week and 1.3 percent over the same week last year. According to ShopperTrak, sales increases during the week ending Dec. 17 made this December on pace to have higher retail sales than last year.

Versace opened its first boutique in Milan dedicated to Young Versace, the company’s kid's line, which made its debut at international children’s wear exhibition Pitti Immagine Bimbo in Florence last June. The line includes clothes and accessories for both girls and boys from infancy to age 12.

Investor Marc Andreessen thinks traditional retailers are going to feel the heat next year as e-commerce "category killers" in verticals like electronics and home furnishings clean up. That's what he told CNET in an interview where he offered up some predictions for the coming year.

With television still serving as a major outlet for consumers to gather information as well as entertain themselves, retailers still rely heavily on the tube for much of their holiday marketing. In fact, according to the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association’s latest survey, more than one-quarter of consumers said television/broadcast influenced them to shop at a particular retailer this holiday season, up from 22.0 percent last year.

As we come to the close of the year, many retailers are examining their performance and finding the results aren't pretty. If that's the case with your business, follow these five tips to get back on the track to success in 2012:

At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers’ layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.

In-store holiday music, while festive, can start to sound the same. Try being the guy programming it. "There are only about 25 Christmas songs; there are just 8,000 versions," said Shawn Cash, programmer for in-store music company Retail Radio. "Try and name 50 Christmas songs."