Shopping Centers Today

MAR 2015

Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)

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T H E C O M M O N A R E A JCPENNEY REVIVES ITS CATALOG, LANDLORDS BRACE FOR MORE RETAILER BANKRUPTCIES 6 S C T / M A R C h 2 0 1 5 Amazon launches campus brick-and-mortar presence Etailer Amazon.com is venturing offline again with its latest experiment in bricks-and-mortar retailing: a staffed customer order pickup and drop-off location for students at Purdue University. Called Amazon@Purdue, the site is located within the Krach Leadership Center at Purdue's West La- fayette, Ind., campus. Students, alumni, faculty and staff at Purdue can buy textbooks and other items on a special page on Amazon's website for delivery to the Amazon@Purdue location. They can also return rented textbooks there. Amazon@Purdue, which some describe as more of a glori- fied post office than a retail store, is part of the Amazon Stu- dent program, which offers discounts and other perks to this important demographic. "We're excited to open our first-ever staffed pickup location at Purdue, making it more convenient and affordable for students to get everything they need for life on campus," said Paul Ryder, vice president of media and student programs at Amazon. "Whether students are ordering textbooks, laptops, or mac and cheese, Amazon and Purdue are now providing a convenient and secure spot for them to pick up their stuff at hours that work with their schedules. We look forward to bringing this experience to more universities soon." A second Purdue site is scheduled to open this spring. Amazon has similar arrangements with the University of California, Davis, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Amazon has yet to open a true brick-and-mortar store, but it did set tongues wagging late last year when it pur- chased a storefront in New York City from which to test same-day delivery services and package pickup for locals. Abercrombie, J.Crew converting some mall stores into factory outlets Some retailers are experimenting with converting some of their stores in 'B' and 'C' malls into factory outlets. "We had Abercrombie do that in one of our malls, a tier-2 mall, a few years ago, and sales have improved," said CBL & Associates Properties President and CEO Stephen D. Lebovitz on the firm's fourth-quarter earnings call. He added that J.Crew is converting some of its mall stores throughout the coun- try into outlets. Retailers are converting in markets where their prices are just too high compared to competi- tors, he says: "The J. Crew store at CBL's Hamilton Place Mall in Chattanooga," he said, "is a factory store, and it's doing really well." Macy's bets on beauty Macy's Inc. is spending $210 million to buy Bluemercury, a luxury cosmetics and spa-services retailer based in Washington, D.C. Bluemercury operates about 60 stores across 18 states, typically in prime street-level locations and urban lifestyle centers, as well as an online business. This acquisition will help Macy's and Bloomingdales boost their profitable cosmetics and spa-services business with the Bluemercury products, executives say. Bluemercury, meanwhile, will benefit from Macy's infrastructure. The U.S. prestige beauty industry — defined as those brands commonly sold in department stores — reached $11.2 billion and grew by 3 percent in dollar sales year on year in 2014, according to research firm NPD Group. "Beauty is an industry where consumers are willing to spend," said Karen Grant, the firm's global beauty analyst, "and where the majority of them — more than 80 percent of U.S. women alone — invest."

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