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IN BRIEF

Limited on the move

Limited Brands intends to expand Pink, a line of underwear and sleepwear for women 18 to 22, to include fragrances, and might consider opening stores devoted to the line. The Pink brand is currently sold in Victoria’s Secret stores. A national Pink rollout is not confirmed yet, but were one to be enacted, it would be the latest attempt by Limited to establish stores around popular lines of apparel. The company opened a Henri Bendel store at the Easton Town Center, in Columbus, Ohio, (a center it co-developed) and is considering another unit this year. It also bought the rights to the old C.O. Bigelow apothecary in New York City and opened a modern version at Easton Town Center, which sells homeopathic and body products. Limited says it plans to open more Bigelow stores this year.

Nordstrom hits 95

Fashion and specialty retailer Nordstrom opened its 95th full-line store in Atlanta at Phipps Plaza in March. The 135,000-square-foot store joins Lord & Taylor, Parisian and Saks Fifth Avenue as anchors. At its opening, more than 400 Nordstrom employees lined the store’s aisles to cheer the first customers through the door. Nordstrom also plans to open its third full-line store in Colorado at the Taubman Centers’ Cherry Creek Plaza, in Denver. The retailer plans to open the two-level, 120,000-square-foot unit in fall 2006.

 

Supercuts opens 2,000th store

Supercuts, the Minneapolis-based division of Regis Corp., opened its 2,000th store in February at the Emmaus (Pa.) Shopping Center.

 

Plane Janes

Women are adding tool belts to their spring purchases, according to recent research. They initiated 80 percent of the $165 billion spent on home improvement projects and repairs in 2001, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute. Women made 35.8 percent of the total residential repair and remodeling purchases in 2004, a jump from 28.6 percent last year, according to Therma-Tru Door, a Maumee, Ohio, company that manufactures fiberglass doors and other materials. Further, three-quarters of American women ages 25 to 49 say they are doing more home-improvement projects today than they did five years ago, and 80 percent said they plan to tackle at least one such project within a year, says Roper ASW, a market research firm which produced its research for Atlanta-based The Home Depot.

 

On the border

American Eagle Outfitters, Hurley International, Kids Supercenter and Paolo Giardini opened stores at The Shops at Las Americas, a super-regional center along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego.

 

Coldwater opens 60 units

Coldwater Creek, the women’s apparel and accessories retailer, intends to open about 60 new stores this year, says Merrill Lynch. The Sandpoint, Ohio-based company started in 1984 as a catalog retailer and now sells its merchandise through about 114 stores, its catalog and Web site.

 

DSW plots IPO

DSW, the Columbus, Ohio-based shoe retailer owned by Retail Ventures, is going public. The company is planning an initial public offering that could raise as much as $185 million, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company will use the proceeds to expand its shoe retailing business and to repay a $165 million loan to its parent company. DSW operates 172 shoe stores in 32 states. For the fiscal year ended in October, the company reported $915.3 million in net sales and a profit of $53.4 million, according to the statement. DSW says it hopes to complete the IPO by June.

 

Michaels expands in New York

Michaels Stores, an arts and crafts retailer, signed a lease for an 18,000-square-foot store at an open-air neighborhood center in Hartsdale, N.Y.

 

Container Store adds three

Dallas-based The Container Store plans to open three new stores this year, bringing its total store count to 36. At press time, the company planned to open a 31,000-square-foot unit near the Natick (Mass.) Mall in April; a store at the Bridgeport Village, in Portland, Ore.; and a 27,500-square-foot store at Lincoln Square, Bellevue, Wash.

 

Grocery Outlet goes Northwest

Grocery Outlet plans to open six stores in Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, according to a report by New York City-based investment bank Merrill Lynch. The stores, spanning about 20,000 square feet, will sell frozen and refrigerated foods, dry groceries, beer and wine, health and beauty products, over-the-counter drugs and general merchandise.

 

Raving Brands launches restaurant

In March Raving Brands launched Doc Green’s Gourmet Salads, a restaurant concept, in Atlanta. The eateries will sell made-to-order salads with roasted, poached, grilled and carved toppings, such side orders as sweet corn with pan-seared bacon and roasted-garlic mashed potatoes, flatbread sandwiches and beer and wine. Raving Brands says the restaurants will occupy spaces spanning 2,500 to 3,000 square feet and that it prefers to place the restaurants in mixed-use, lifestyle and other open-air centers. The company says it hopes to open 15 to 20 restaurants this year.

 

Crate & Barrel enters Indiana

Crate & Barrel is breaking into the Indiana market with a two-level, 33,000-square-foot store at the Fashion Mall at Keystone, Indianapolis, a center owned by Simon Property Group. Also, Landmark Theatres, Los Angeles, which specializes in presenting first-run independent and foreign films and restored classics, is opening a seven-screen cinema at the mall. The multiplex will be situated at the north end of the mall, near the Parisian department store. The cinema will offer stadium seating and a pub to serve movie patrons and the general public.

 

Spring spenders

Most Americans are set to invest in a spring wardrobe this year, with about a third spending more this year than they did last year, according to the spring 2005 Shopping in America survey, published by The Macerich Co. and released in March. The average bill per shopper on new clothes and accessories: $359.81, with patrons eyeing cropped pants, floral prints, shoes, colorful leather handbags and ballet flats. The biggest spenders were those between 45 and 54 years old, with an average bill of $445.68. Shoppers between 25 and 34 spent an average of $414.38, and the 55-to-64-year-old set laid out $411.03.

 

Stores for people, pets

PetsMart is to open a 20,000-square-foot store on Turtle Creek Boulevard, Coral Springs, Fla., under development by Charter Realty & Development Corp., Greenwich, Conn. Commercial Net Lease Realty will buy the store, which is slated to open this spring. Charter Realty also signed a 30,000-square-foot Tractor Supply store, a Hannaford Bros. supermarket and a 20,000-square-foot Dollar Store to Bridgeview Plaza, an open-air center in Highland, N.Y.

 

Bass Pro opens in Georgia, Miami

Bass Pro Shops, Springfield, Mo., plans to open a 600,000-square-foot outdoor sports center in Macon, Ga. Besides its range of outdoor and sporting goods, the store will feature a gift and nature center, and a fishing-boat showroom. The store will anchor the retail portion of a 500,000-square-foot mixed-use center. The company will also build a distribution facility nearby, which will supply stores in five states. Bass Pro Shops operates 26 stores in 17 states across the United States and Canada, drawing more than 75 million people a year.

 

Kokopelli expands

Fast-casual restaurateur Kokopelli Mexican Grill Franchise Co., Phoenix, plans to open seven restaurants in Las Vegas and five in Reno, Nev., under the Kokopelli Mexican Grill. The restaurant serves Southwestern food made with Sonoran spices, fresh, slow-cooked beans and tortillas steamed to order.

 

Rodeo gets gem tenants

Jewelry retailers Lalique and Buccellati opened stores at Two Rodeo, the street-level shopping center at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Dayton Way in Beverly Hills, Calif. Buccellati offers silver and other jewelry. Lalique sells crystal and decorative objects, in addition to jewelry.

 

The softer side of Kmart

Having posted a $309 million fourth-quarter profit, Kmart Holdings Corp. says it will convert roughly 400 of its stores to Sears units after its merger with Sears, Roebuck and Co. The company did not specify which stores it will target for the changeover, which is to take place over a three-year period. But it did say in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that Kmart units in areas more suitable to Sears customers are the most likely candidates, in the interest of accelerating Sears’ growth away from mall formats. Kmart says it will explore ways to offer shoppers of both formats merchandise from its proprietary, national hard-line, home and apparel brands.

 

Cabela’s comes to Nevada

Cabela’s, the Sidney, Neb.-based sporting goods retailer, says it plans to open a 150,000-square-foot superstore in Reno, Nev., by late 2006 or early 2007.

 

Dunkin’ Donuts in Detroit

Baked-goods retailer Dunkin’ Donuts says it plans to open 100 stores in the Detroit area by 2009.

 

Pollo Tropical plans expansion

Restaurateur Pollo Tropical, Miami, says it will open 50 stores in the next five years, including units in the Northeast. The food purveyor offers Hispanic-style chicken, black beans and plantains.

 

Disney moves outlet

Disney Store North America, Glendale, Calif., opened a 7,000-square-foot Disney Store at the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, in Central Valley, N.Y., in March. The store is the first of five outlet units that Disney Store’s parent company, The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Secaucus, N.J., will open this year. Other store openings are planned in California, Arizona, Illinois, Tennessee and Ontario, Canada.

 

Rosenfeld leases up Free State

By signing up three tenants, JBG Rosenfeld Retail finalized the first phase of its redevelopment of Free State Mall, Bowie, Md. Tuesday Morning, which sells closeout home accessories and gifts, will open a 9,200-square-foot store in June. C2 Educational Center, which helps build students’ learning skills, will open a 1,800-square-foot unit and start classes in the third quarter. Curves, a women’s fitness and weight loss center, committed to a 2,600-square-foot space and at press time, hoped to open the unit in April.

 

Wal-Mart’s world

Wal-Mart de Mexico says it will spend $700 million on new stores and renovations. Wal-Mart Stores is preparing ads in Cantonese, Mandarin and Vietnamese in large U.S. cities with significant numbers of those groups.

 

Ultimate to sell 30 stores

Ultimate Electronics said in an SEC filing that it would close about 30 stores in Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Texas and Utah. Those units average about 30,000 square feet and are located mostly in power centers. The company said it cannot estimate the related costs, but that the asset sales would commence April 9 and end by June 30. Ultimate filed for Chapter 11 in January, reporting $329 million in assets and $160.6 million in debt. Sales have fallen in the face of competition from Best Buy and others. The chain says it will continue to operate 32 stores.

 

HP snaps up Snapfish

Hewlett-Packard Co. agreed to buy online photo service company Snapfish. HP did not disclose the terms, but it did cite Snapfish as the largest company of its kind in the country, with more than 13 million users. The chain opened a 1,500-square-foot concept store in a neighborhood center in Alexandria, Va., and says it plans to expand to more locations.

 

CompUSA opening combo stores

CompUSA said it will open 17 combination CompUSA-Good Guys stores in California by converting 14 Good Guys and three CompUSAs by June. CompUSA bought Dallas-based Good Guys, which sells high-end consumer electronics, in December 2003. Besides the combo stores, CompUSA operates 230 eponymous stores and 50 Good Guys.

 

Kohl’s hits Jacksonville

Kohl’s is expanding further in Florida. The Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based chain spent $10.3 million for land at Crescent Resources’ Shoppes at Bartram Park; Fleming Island’s Crossing at Fleming Island, and an unnamed Sleiman Enterprises project, all of which are in Jacksonville. The chain plans to open the stores in the fall.

 

Dolphin hooks a Bass

Bass Pro Shops announced plans to join Taubman Centers’ Dolphin Mall, in Miami, as an anchor. The Missouri-based outdoor gear retailer will occupy about 100,000 square feet, which will require the reconfiguring of two vacant anchor spaces and the addition of a further 75,000 square feet, sources say. The store, which is scheduled to open next year, will focus on merchandise that appeals to the outdoor passions of the area’s Spanish-speaking population.

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