Retail Stores

GNC said Thursday it plans to shutter about 200 stores across the U.S. and Canada in 2018. The vitamin shop owner has more than 8,000 locations globally, about 3,300 of which are corporately held and within the U.S. and Canada, according to its website. It also operates shops within Rite Aid stores, and has a little more…

Mother’s Day spending is expected to total a near-record $23.1 billion this year, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Eighty-six percent of Americans plan to celebrate Mother’s Day, and they will spend an average of $180 per person. “This year’s Mother’s Day forecast is one…

The benefits of online shopping are obvious: its speed, ease and convenience drove Q2 2017 e-commerce sales to $111.5 billion, a 16.2 percent increase year-over-year. Still, if given a choice, 64 percent of online shoppers prefer buying from physical outlets — a number that, surprisingly, increases when talking about younger shoppers. Millennials and even Gen…

Discount apparel brand Old Navy will add 60 more stores across the U.S. this year, pushing its total to more than 1,000 locations. Gap Inc., which owns Old Navy as well as the flagship Gap banner, Banana Republic and Athleta, currently operates more than 3,500 stores globally. Meanwhile, Gap Inc. is trimming back its fleet…

Toys“R”Us Inc.’s lawyers and advisers have shot down an 11th-hour offer from a billionaire toy maker that would have kept some of its U.S. stores open, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reports that Isaac Larian, founder of Bratz dolls maker MGA Entertainment, Inc., came forward last week with a…

The only two bids at the start of a bankruptcy auction for department store chain Bon-Ton Stores Inc. were from liquidators, signaling the end for the company, according to reports Tuesday morning. Reuters said Bon-Ton will go out of business without a bid from a going-concern bidder. The New York research firm Reorg Research, also…

U.S. retail sales rebounded in March after three straight monthly declines as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and other big-ticket items, suggesting consumer spending was heading into the second quarter with momentum. The Commerce Department said on Monday retail sales increased 0.6 percent last month after an unrevised 0.1 percent dip in February. January data…

Imagine for a minute that instead of going to the mall, you lived there. Now, imagine that that mall wasn’t just a parcel of real estate with dozens of national retail chain tenants selling often largely undifferentiated merchandise, but instead was magically transformed into a highly differentiated mixed-use space whose sole mission was to cater…

Sears Holdings is selling 16 of its namesake store locations in an online auction, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The stores, 15 of which are attached to malls, are being marketed as sale and lease-back deals, which will allow Sears to continue operations at the locations while paying rent. The new owners of…

In any industry, weathering change doesn't come easy — particularly for those companies that were built in and for another era. Retail is no exception. Physical retailers are rightly reconsidering the role of brick-and-mortar for the modern consumer, retooling their strategies and shifting their business practices to more effectively compete in a world remade through online’s influence. Meanwhile, consumer expectations are changing, and the old ways of attracting, retaining and engaging customers are evolving right alongside them.