Retail Stores

Sweden-based furniture retailer Ikea is considering opening standalone restaurants in city centers, Fast Company recently reported. Despite specializing in furniture, Ikea stores that dish out Swedish specialties such as meatballs, smoked salmon and lingonberry juice have become a key reason customers visit the superstores. Ikea notes that 30 percent of its store customers are there just for the food.…

Over the last couple of decades, e-commerce has changed the retail game by bringing the "store" to the internet. We have now entered a phase where the next game-changing opportunity for retailers is to bring the "internet" to the store. According to a recent Pew Research Center report, if given a choice, 64 percent of…

Teen apparel retailer rue21 announced last week that it's closing 400 of its 1,200 stores around the country. On Saturday afternoon, the company posted a note on its Facebook page confirming that it’s trimming its brick-and-mortar locations. “It’s true — we are closing some stores,” the post said. “It was a difficult but necessary decision. But…

J.C. Penney has postponed liquidation sales and closure dates for the 138 stores it planned to shutter this year because shoppers are actually coming to the stores. "Ever since the company announced its store closure list, those stores have seen better-than-expected sales and traffic," J.C. Penney spokeswoman Daphne Avila told CNBC. "This isn't an uncommon…

Pier 1 Imports has plans to close up to 25 stores over the next year. During the company’s earnings call this week, executives reported net sales decreasing 3.4 percent for the full year, as well as the average number of stores declining 3 percent. Pier 1 operates more than 1,000 stores, and closed four of…

Gymboree Corp. is said to be preparing to file for bankruptcy as it faces an upcoming interest payment on its debt on June 1. Bloomberg reports that the Bain Capital-controlled company is seeking to reorganize its debt load and may transfer control to its lenders, including Searchlight Capital, Brigade Capital Management and Oppenheimer Holdings. The children’s…

HHGregg has begun liquidating its assets after failing to find a buyer by its deadline last Friday. The company expects to close all of its 220 stores by the end of May, resulting in about 5,000 layoffs across the U.S. HHGregg CEO Bob Riesbeck in a statement said the company has "continued to fight for the…

Nuk USA uses an email to ask customers for reviews of their baby products.

Payless ShoeSource filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, saying it needed to shore up its balance sheet in order to position itself for long-term survival in an increasingly tough retail landscape. The discount shoe retailer plans to immediately close 400 stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and will also "aggressively manage" the rest of its real estate…

Ethan Allen, the furniture retailer, used a direct mail brochure to tease an inspiring book.