Macy's

Coming into the economic downturn's fourth holiday season, dollar stores and high-end retail are looking to fare better than the middle. Shoppers and pedestrians cross 34th Street outside of Macy's Herald Square department store in New York City. (Chris Hondros/) Jeremy Hobson: Family Dollar reports earnings later today, and the outlook is pretty good. The company is benefiting from a growing number of Americans who are in the mood for discounts. Interestingly, at the other end of the retail spectrum, high-end shops are also doing okay. As Marketplace's Adriene Hill reports, you can see the trends in plans for

New York City -- Macy's is reducing the size of its store in downtown Pittsburgh from nine floors of retail space to six (plus a mezzanine). The company has been moving some departments to lower floors since early this year. The store will remain open during the renovations. "The store is being reconfigured for better flow among departments, making shopping easier and more convenient," the company said in a statement. After the consolidation, Macy’s Pittsburgh's flagship will have about 525,000 sq. ft. of space, making it about twice the size of the typical suburban store. All 363 Macy's employees

This fall, Macy's will begin a 350-store test of tablets and handheld devices to engage customers in select merchandise areas. The retailer has also started installing free WiFi service to enable customer use of smart mobile devices, with plans to have more than 300 locations upgraded by the end of October.

A survey released yesterday by Hay Group, a global management consultancy, reported that 68 percent of retailers expect holiday sales to increase this year. An overwhelming majority89 percentsay they are not planning to offer deeper discounts on Black Friday; while 94 percent will not discount on Cyber Monday this year. Sixty-three percent of retailers plan to start promotions in November, but some early birds plan to begin in October (13 percent), September (6 percent) and even August (6 percent), according to the Hay Group report. Despite this, hiring plans remain conservative, with 67 percent of retailers hiring at the

New research from Buddy Media and L2 titled, Digital IQ Index: Specialty Retailers, measures the digital footprint of 64 speciality retail brands via 350 data points across four dimensions: site, digital marketing, social media and mobile.

After a successful launch this past spring, Macy's is bringing back its customized mobile barcode program, Backstage Pass. In addition to sending new promotional videos to shoppers' phones when they scan the QR codes, customers will also have the chance to win daily shopping sprees.

Macy’s announced that Steven Derwoed has been appointed vice president of merchandising for the Macy’s store planning and design group.

Foursquare has surpassed the 10-million user mark, and the check-in site collected a number of facts about itself to complement the announcement. Target, Wal-Mart and Macy's have been noted as the most popular retail chains on the site.

Macy's workers will remain on the job after the retail giant reached a tentative deal with its union Thursday morning after a marathon bargaining session. "Following an all-night negotiating session, Macy's is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with Local 1-S of the RWDSU on a new five-year agreement," Macy's spokeswoman Elina Kazan said in a statement.

Local 1-S of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union announced that more than 4,000 union workers at Macy's Manhattan flagship and three other New York locations have voted to strike if a new contract is not reached by midnight on Wednesday.