Danielle Abril/Dallas Business Journal—Zale Corp.’s announcement that it agreed to be sold to Signet Jewelers Limited for $690 million has left industry analysts with a positive outlook on the Irving-based jeweler, even though there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Wednesday morning, Zale’s stock popped about 40 percent to $20.87 per share from $14.91 […]
Archives for February 2014
Achieving Closure
Store closing are already shaping up to be a big story in 2014, but while many are surprised by these closing, I don’t see it that way. In fact, I think this is exactly what we should expect from an industry in transition. Stores are constantly trying to realign themselves and do away with under-performing […]
Phillipsburg Mall struggles to fill stores
Ryan Kneller/The Morning Call—J.C. Penney’s announcement last month that it would close 33 underperforming stores, including its Phillipsburg Mall location raised an obvious question: “What is the future of the Phillipsburg Mall?” In recent years, the mall has been hemorrhaging stores, including high-profile retailers such as American Eagle, FYE, Gap and PacSun. This past year […]
Amazon turns cameras into credit cards
Quentin Fottrell/Morningstar—Amazon’s (AMZN) app for iPhone this week added “Flow,” an image recognition tool designed to allow consumers to add a product to their shopping cart by merely pointing their phone’s camera at it. Flow–as its name suggests–aims to make it as seamless as possible to shop. MarketWatch carried out its own “showrooming” with the […]
Holiday Mediocrity a Sign of Things to Come?
The best numbers came from the Department of Commerce, which estimated that U.S. retail growth during the holiday season came in at 4.1% over 2012 sales. Other organizations released estimates that were a bit less robust: the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported 3.8% growth, the International Council of Shopping Centers checked in with 3.0%, and ShopperTrak announced that sales that were up 2.7%.
