Landlords, tenants prepare for a Black Friday like no other Steve McLinden / Shopping Centers Today Black Friday is fast becoming Black Thursday in U.S. retail this year, with an unprecedented number of stores and entire shopping centers opening at midnight or earlier on Thanksgiving night. Dozens of centers have changed opening hours this year […]

Retailers Invest in Showy Flagships as Market Offers Opportunity Elaine Misonzhnik / Retail Traffic Recent announcements by retailers as disparate as Uniqlo, Century 21 and Macy’s about launching new mega-stores or significantly expanding existing stores in New York City seem to go against the current trend of cutting back on store footprints. When everyone in […]

The End of Borders and the Future of Books An inside look at the real reasons for the once-beloved chain’s demise Ben Austen / Bloomberg Businessweek In September, just days before Borders Group met its end, one of the chain’s last retail holdouts, in the Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tenn., was being liquidated, with prices […]

Why wait for Black Friday? Door-buster deals, layaway entice shoppers to tackle holiday shopping list now. Tyrone Richardson / The Morning Call For shoppers like Erica Vasquez, Black Friday is too late to start chasing down holiday gifts.. “There’s deals right now. I was in JC Penney last weekend getting gifts … they had a […]

Michigan retailers upbeat for holidays Jaclyn Trop / The Detroit News Michigan is expecting a merrier holiday shopping season than the nation when the official gift buying season starts in earnest in two weeks. The state’s retailers expect a 6 percent increase in holiday spending, while most national industry groups and analysts expect a second […]

Walmart Joins Back Thursday Rush Black Friday is creeping closer to Thanksgiving dessert. Quentin Fottrell / SmartMoney Wal-Mart announced Thursday that it’s opening its stores at 10pm on Thanksgiving – a full two hours ahead of retailers such as Macy’s and Target, which made big news last week with plans to open at midnight. That […]