Retail Stores

The first-ever Tom Ford women’s shop-in-shop has launched inside of Bergdorf Goodman on Fifth Avenue in New York. The shop is the second location for Ford’s womenswear in New York, joining the designer’s flagship at 845 Madison Ave. Bergdorf Goodman also was the first to open a Tom Ford men’s shop-in-shop in 2008, and will follow through in November 2011 with an expanded Tom Ford beauty boutique.

Sears and Kmart announced that they're supporting emergency relief efforts in a dozen states to help residents recover from Hurricane Irene’s damaging winds and floodwaters.

August saw wild swings in the stock market and sinking consumer confidence. Not to mention Hurricane Irene, which left parts of the Northeast under water and without power. But several of the nation's retailers still managed to report positive sales for the month of August, a key month for back-to-school shopping.

High-end wedding dress maker and retailer Priscilla of Boston said it will close at the end of the year. Its 19 store locations were shuttered on Aug. 31, and its brands, which include Jewel by Priscilla of Boston and Platinum For Priscilla of Boston, also will be discontinued.

Lord & Taylor will open its first Lord & Taylor Home store Sept. 3 in Paramus, N.J. The high-end retailer will stock labels including Gordon Ramsay, Mario Batali and Kate Spade. A second Lord & Taylor Home location will open in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, later this month.

The Consumer Confidence index fell to 44.5 in August. The bigger-than-expected decline was the lowest reading since April 2009, when the economy was still in a recession. However, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist John Dennerlein said there may be some good news about consumer spending buried inside the report.

Retail same-store sales held steady in August with a 4.9 percent gain as retailers reported mostly solid back-to-school results coupled with decreased sales due to Hurricane Irene.

A decades-old requirement that retailers put a price tag on each item they sell is no longer beginning today. Instead of putting price stickers on each item, stores can now use other forms of price marking, such as clearly displaying signs on shelves or making price scanning available to customers.

JoS. A. Bank reported that net income for the second quarter surged 24.7 percent to $20.6 million, compared with $16.5 million in the year-ago period. Sales rose 22.4 percent to $230.7 million from $188.4 million.

For the last 25 years, Dennis May has been involved in the retail industry — and he's loved every second of it. From his modest beginning selling audio equipment to help support himself while in college (that was the cool job at the time, May recalls) to his tenure today as president and CEO of one of the fastest-growing cross-channel retail brands out there, the one constant has been retail. But that's just part of the reason we've chosen May as our 2011 cross-channel retailer of the year.