Retail Stores

A different type of flash mob — the criminal kind — has been wreaking havoc on retailers from coast to coast. In these cases, groups of people meet up through social media or other communication channels and enter stores to disorient associates, ransack shelves, and often leave behind a path of violence.

Ross Dress for Less, the off-price apparel and home fashion retailer, will enter the greater Chicago area with the opening of 12 locations on Saturday, Oct. 8th.

It’s no secret that U.S. retail sales collapsed in 2008 and 2009 because of the recession. But several of the largest retailers consistently performed poorly between 2005 and 2010 for reasons that go beyond the recession.

The store known as 11 Furniture copies Ikea's blue and yellow color scheme, mock-up rooms, miniature pencils, signage and even its rocking chair designs. Its cafeteria-style restaurant, complete with minimalist wooden tables, has a familiar look, although the menu features Chinese-style braised minced pork and eggs instead of Ikea's Swedish meatballs and salmon.

Kohl's is helping customers take a stand against breast cancer with Fila Sport's athletic merchandise designed exclusively for the Kohl's Cares cause merchandise program. One hundred percent of the net profit donated to support the fight against breast cancer.

Retailers with unique business models — and those with both the means and the fortitude to expand while others contracted or stood pat — are the stars of the 2011 edition of the STORES Hot 100 Retailers. The top of the list illustrates this abundantly with the likes of Amazon, Apple and Netflix, each with a distinctive enough approach to retail to preclude having a major rival operating in the same space.

Williams-Sonoma is planning a U.K. launch in 2012, according to a report by The Independent newspaper. The report said the company has appointed a U.K. retail property agent and plans to open its first store in the first half of next year.

Vitamin Shoppe reported that net income in the second quarter increased 64 percent to $11.95 million, compared with $7.3 million in the year-ago period. The retailer cited strong sales both in-store and online for its improved performance.

Westfield Group, a shopping center operator, agreed to invest $612.5 million to develop the retail part of New York’s World Trade Center. Westfield invested in the retail concourse at the original trade center six weeks before it was destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and sold its stake back to the Port Authority in December 2003.

Whole Foods' workers past and present — newly liberated by one Canadian employee's explosive kiss-off memo gone viral — reveal to Gawker what truly goes on behind the doors of the world's most "humanity-friendly" supermarket chain.