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Loehmann’s is closing its State Street store Saturday after operating for only three years.
The off-price women’s clothing chain opened the two-level, glass-encased showcase store in 2007, calling it one of its most upscale stores at the time. The store at 151 N. State St. anchors a prominent shopping corner in the Loop along with Macy’s Midwest flagship, Borders book store and the struggling Block 37 shopping mall. Get the full story »
Borders Group has received a commitment for a $550 million credit line from GE Capital, a lifeline that will help the struggling bookseller pay its vendors and stay afloat – but it indicated that bankruptcy protection might still be an option.
Its shares jumped 28 percent in after-hours trading on the news. Get the full story »
Sears Holdings Corp. has hired Kohl’s executive Chris Capuano as senior vice president and president of home fashions.
She is taking over the top home goods post from Douglas Wurl, vice president and general merchandise manager of home fashions, who is leaving the company. Get the full story »
Meijer continues to expand its footprint in the Chicago area and edge closer to the city of Chicago.
This summer it will open a store in Melrose Park and this week, Berwyn’s City Council approved plans to locate a Meijer store at the southeast corner of Cermak Road and Harlem Avenue, a store that will create 100 jobs. Get the full story »
Walgreen Co. has quietly rolled out a private label brew. The product, Big Flats 1901, will carry a suggested retail price of $2.99 for a six-pack of cans and $11.49 for a 24-pack, the company said.
It will be the private label beer for Deerfield-based Walgreens in states where it’s allowed. Prices may vary by region. The chain began selling the beer in mid-December and it’s now available in more than 4,000 locations, a company spokesman said. Get the full story »
Borders Group Inc. has agreed to sell its Day by Day Calendar Co. business to Texas company Calendar Holdings LLC, the Detroit News reported online Monday, citing the Michigan-based book retailer.
Terms weren’t disclosed.
Borders has been negotiating with lenders and publishers to restructure debt and vendor payments. This month, the retailer said it planned to eliminate more than 300 jobs this year.
CVS Caremark Corp. said Monday that Larry Merlo will take the reins as the drugstore chain operator’s chief executive in March, two months earlier than expected.
Merlo, who is CVS’ chief operating officer, will become CEO March 1, replacing Thomas Ryan. He had been expected to become CEO in May, according to a succession plan laid out last year. The company did not explain why Merlo’s start date had been moved up. Get the full story »
J.C. Penney Co. is closing some stores, outlets and call center locations and continuing to work on an exit from its catalog business in an effort to streamline operations and boost profits. Locally, the J.C. Penney at Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee is slated for closure.
The department store operator also said Monday that Vornado Realty Trust Chairman Steven Roth and activist investor William Ackman will become board members. Penney’s enacted a “poison pill” in October after both Ackman and Vornado took large stakes in the company. Get the full story »
HomeGoods is joining the growing array of discount chains on the Magnificent Mile.
The off-price home furnishings chain, long expected to set up shop on the boulevard, signed a lease to opened a 25,503-square-foot store on the third level of 600 N. Michigan Ave., according to Oakbrook Terrace-based Mid-America Real Estate Group. The store is slated to open late this summer. Get the full story »
Shares of department-store operators climbed Thursday as investors made bets on which retailers may follow Dillard’s Inc. in its plan to form a real-estate investment trust.
Dillard’s said in a regulatory filing late Wednesday it believes the formation of a REIT may enhance its ability to access debt or preferred stock and improve its liquidity. The retailer said it plans to transfer interests in certain properties to the REIT and will then lease back the properties. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart on Thursday unveiled a five-year plan to sell more nutritional food at a Washington news conference that included First Lady Michelle Obama.
The plan includes reducing sodium by 25 percent in grain products, lunch meats, salad dressing and frozen food. Get the full story »
Johnson & Johnson, already under fire for a string of product recalls, has another public relations issue on its hands after its o.b. tampons temporarily disappeared from stores and little was said about what happened. Get the full story »
Sears Holdings Corp. has named Robin Michel, formerly president of Giant Foods, as the retailer’s new grocery and pharmacy chief.
Michel, a veteran supermarket executive, joins the operator of Sears and Kmart stores at a time when mass merchandise chains are moving more aggressively into the food business. Get the full story »
Isaac Mizrahi during New York Fashion Week 2011. (Donna Ward/MCT)
Isaac Mizrahi is in final talks to open a boutique on Rush Street in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, a move that would give the celebrity designer his first store outside of Manhattan and his second outpost nationwide, according to people familiar with negotiations.
The deal, if finalized, would bolster Rush Street’s budding reputation as a luxury strip. The thoroughfare, once known as a back alley to the glitzier North Michigan Avenue, has been attracting designer retailers in the past year from Marc Jacobs Collection to Ted Baker.
Get the full story »
Clothing retailer J. Crew Group Inc. is set to settle a shareholder lawsuit over its proposed takeover by private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP.
A $2.86 billion deal to acquire J. Crew was announced on Nov. 23, with TPG Group and Leonard Green & Partners LP agreeing to buy the company for $43.50 a share, a premium of about 15 percent. Get the full story »
