Paige Yowell/The Omaha World-Herald – Holiday shopping comes to a close this weekend, and retailers may finally have a reason to celebrate: Sales for the season are expected to be up heftily over last year. That’s after years of stagnant sales or nominal year-over-year sales growth. Experts say a few things are behind that increased […]

Quentin Fottrell/Market Watch – This year is shaping up to be a bumper year for retail. The National Retail Federation, the industry group representing retailers, said that it expects sales in all of November and December — excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales — to hit $682 billion this year, up 4% on last year. Last […]

Anna Marum/The Oregonian – For the second year running, Black Friday started the day after Halloween. Amazon opened its Black Friday Deals Store on a Wednesday – Nov. 1 to be exact – and proclaimed, “the holiday shopping season starts now.” Kohl’s had select Black Friday deals the same day, as well as a promotion that allowed shoppers to […]

Joel Groover/Shopping Centers Today – Mall landlords are doubling down on a strategy that would once have been unthinkable: reappraising their apparel-based tenant lineups. Several have been outspoken of late about this pivot, a signal to Wall Street of their commitment to this new direction. “If there’s any criticism to be made on our industry, […]

Lisa Fickenscher/New York Post – Et tu, outlet malls? After years of being seemingly insulated from the ills affecting department stores, the country’s 200-plus outlet malls are starting to show signs of strain. Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, which owns 43 centers in 22 states and is the largest publicly traded pure-play outlet operator in the […]