US department store chain Kohl's announced the introduction of Curated by Kohl's, a new selection of products from emerging brands available in more than 50 Kohl's stores and Kohls.com beginning mid-October 2019. The chosen assortment, which will include apparel, accessories and home goods, will be refreshed quarterly, and found in each selection's respective department, giving Kohl's customers the opportunity to shop and discover emerging brands. Beginning in 2020, Kohl's will partner with Facebook on brand curation, identifying and engaging with brands that have built a strong online community on the social media platform.

press release: curated by kohl's

The new American Dream mall scheduled to open in New Jersey on 25 October next will include a 2200 sq ft Its Sugar store, the "world's largest non-manufacture candy store", also dubbed the world's first candy department store, on three levels. It will offer 10 000 choices and will feature a 60-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty made entirely from candy. In contrast to the growing trend towards wellness and healthy eating, the US population consumes more sugar per head than any other country in the world. On average, Americans consume 126.4 grams of sugar daily. That represents more than 10 times the lowest recommendation.

Nordstrom said it's launching a new online page dubbed Sustainable Style for more than 2,000 products from 90 brands "that are made from sustainably sourced materials, manufactured in factories that meet higher social or environmental standards or that give back." While the Sustainable Style category is available online, many of the products can be found in stores, so right now Nordstrom is exploring ways to help customers learn about and find these products in stores.

The department store also said that it has joined the G7 Fashion Pact, a coalition of 32 global retailers convened by French President Emmanuel Macron at the annual G7 Summit in Biarritz, France. Committing to the G7 Fashion Pact isn't the only way Nordstrom is improving its affect on the climate. The brand has made an effort to use more responsible materials when producing Nordstrom-made products and reduce the amount of materials used when packaging and shipping its offerings.

press release: Nordstrom Joins G7 Fashion Pact To Address Global Climate Crisis

Retail expert Terry Duddy is stepping down from his post of executive chairman at Debenhams in September, as the owners of the UK department store chain appoint Stefaan Vansteenkiste as the new chief executive. He has been chief restructuring officer at the retailer since April. Vansteenkiste will replace Sergio Bucher, who stepped down from his role in April, shortly after the company was put into administration.

The appointment of Vansteenkiste underlines the new shareholders' belief that Debenhams requires a turnaround specialist to fix it in a historically challenging trading environment, rather than a retail veteran, and especially so as the all-important Christmas trading period is just around the corner.

Meanwhile, Debenhams is currently in the midst of an existential threat of a legal challenge, funded by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct, pertaining to its restructuring process.Debenhams has plans to close down 50 of its 166 UK stores, with the first tranche of 22 closures planned by early next year.

Read press release below:

Press release: debenhams appoints new CEO

Stockmann of Finland has appointed a new CEO who will take up his position on 19 August 2019. For the last few months, the executive chairman has been filling the role after the previous CEO left in April. Jari Latvanen, the new CEO (pictured here), has served as CEO of HKScan, as president of Stora Enso, and CEO of Findus Nordic as well as occupying several positions at Nestle.

At the same time, Pekka Vähähyyppä has been appointed CFO to take up his duties on the same date, replacing current CFO Kai Laitinen. Pekka Vähähyyppä acted as CFO of Stockmann from 2000 to 2015 before moving to Finnair.

Stockmann has also released its half-yearly results in which it emphasises the need for cost reductions, aiming for €40m by spring 2021.

The Lindex fashion part of the group has updated its strategy for the next four years, and intends to further strengthen international growth and digital transformation. In the words of the press release, "the Board of Directors sees great potential in the future development of Lindex and has therefore decided to explore strategic options for the company's ownership."

See press release on appointments

See press release on results

Major department store chain David Jones of Australia has recorded a third consecutive year of sales contraction, the company announced in a trading update, with little sign the slashing of interest rates has encouraged consumer spending. The David Jones and Country Road Group, bought by South African retailer Woolworths Holdings in 2014 for $2.2 billion, have laid out plans for store closures and downsizing floor space to lean on the recent success of its online shopping. Online sales rose 46.8% and now account for 7.7% of total sales in the 52 weeks to end June. David Jones' like-for-like sales was 0.1% lower, and total sales were down 0.8%.

David Jones is downsizing its Sydney flagship store from two sites spread over 17 floors into one store with 11 floors and a food mezzanine, closing its Market Street branching and squeezing into the one Elizabeth Street premises. Natural light will stream in from huge windows on to an area the company has dubbed "shoe heaven". Above the shoes, in an area that was once offices for executives, will be a mezzanine with a champagne bar boasting commanding views over Hyde Park. But this transformation is costing David Jones in the short-term as the country struggles through a "retail recession".

Nordstrom has added a new position to its leadership ranks and is filling it with a company veteran. Teri Bariquit, who has been with Nordstrom for 33 years, has stepped into the new role of Chief Merchandising Officer. She is now a member of the company's executive team and will lead the full-price and off-price merchandising. With the change, full-price and off-price General Merchandise Managers will report into the Chief Merchandising Officer. As for Teri Bariquit, she will report to co-president Pete Nordstrom.

The merchandising vet has spent a significant part of her career at Nordstrom, and she has been the executive vice president of merchandising planning and solutions since 2012.

press release on nordstrom new Chief Merchandising Officer

Luxury marketplace Farfetch has bought New Guards Group, bringing in-house the ability to co-create and scale buzzy brands and products. In doing so, Farfetch is effectively building out its own private label platform through which it can launch, test and scale brands on its existing online and offline sales channels.

New Guards Group is the Milanese holding company founded in 2015 that has launched many of luxury streetwear's most-hyped and successful brands, including Off-White, Palm Angels and Heron Preston.

Farfetch acquired New Guards for $675 million in a cash-and-stock deal, twice the group's annual revenue and seven times its earnings before taxes. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019. Farfetch sees the value in New Guards not necessarily for its portfolio but for its ability to spot talent and launch highly sought after brands like Off-White — the Virgil Abloh label that is the pre-eminent example of the new luxury streetwear boom. The deal also adds to its own slate of operated businesses, which includes Browns department store and sneaker reseller Stadium Goods. "[New Guards is] a platform — they are not a brand, they are not a Maison, they are not a conglomerate," said Farfetch founder and Chief Executive José Neves. "They are absolutely best in class in terms of spotting the new stars of tomorrow." Farfetch is betting that the addition of New Guards will create a flywheel effect that will grow brands at a fast rate. It hopes to capture more of the profits of transactions on its marketplace and give its owned labels a boost online and through its network of more than 650 boutiques stores.

read full article: why Farfetch bought New Guards Group

Bloomingdale's is entering the subscription rental business. The online subscription rental service, called "My List at Bloomingdale's," is scheduled to launch in mid-September with a fall ready-to-wear assortment with hundreds of women's styles from more than 60 brands and more than 100 exclusive pieces. Consumers, particularly Millennials, are responding to subscription rentals because they support recycling and sustainability, and these services provide the chance to often change what they're wearing, without a big investment.

Bloomingdale's program will be head-on competition, especially considering the upscale department store's clout with designers and brands and formidable merchandising. If My List proves successful, it's conceivable that Macy's rolls out a subscription rental business as well. Bloomingdale's and Macy's are part of Macy's Inc. and they learn from each other.

full article by wwd: Bloomingdale's to launch 'my list' subscription rental business

Launched at the G7, convened by French President Emmanuel Macron and led by French billionaire François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering, the Fashion Pact gathers leading global and textile companies that make commitments on climate, biodiversity and oceans. Galeries Lafayette and Selfridges Group have signed on this Fashion Pact, along Nordstrom. The Pact is a first-of-its-kind initiative that units the biggest names in fashion and revolves around science-based targets in three areas: global warming, restoring biodiversity and preserving the oceans.

G7 press release on the fashion pact

Barneys, owned by hedge fund manager Richard Perry is apparently exploring bankruptcy after a steep increase in its rent at the Madison Avenue flagship starting in January 2019. However, the company providing maintenance, cleaning and housekeeping has suspended its work with the retailer which owes it over $500 000. The store is still operating with merchandise being delivered but some toilets are closed and rubbish is not being taken out.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the store shifted upmarket to offer new luxury brands. An EBITDA of $ 37.9m in 2017 on sales of $829m was expected to be up last year, making an operating profit of 4.6%. Online sales have been increasing, up 19% on the year, but are still short of projections, and average order value is down. The tipping point has been the 72% increase in rent in New York.

read bof article: What Pushed Barneys to the Edge

British retailer Debenhams, which is undergoing a major restructuring, is focusing on its beauty community and retail experience. Beauty accounts for 25 percent of Debenhams' overall sales per year, or around 600 million pounds. The management wants to focus on creating a flexible and dynamic space off-line and online, by creating new, zoned spaces, or labs, instore that are flexible and do away with the traditional beauty aisle design. Shelves have replaced beauty counters to create more open space. Among the shelving units are tables for customers to play with products. The department store will also be rolling out new product categories such as skin care, hair care, men's grooming and a minibar area that stocks travel-sized or miniature-sized versions of products. The store wants customers to try items risk free and without investing in the full-sized product. To encourage experimentation, Debenhams sales staff have been trained across all product categories — instead of by a specific beauty brand — in order to mirror the store's online beauty community and forum. The department store will roll out its new "lab" space concepts across 20 medium-sized stores by the end of the year.

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El Corte Ingles has announced the appointment of Marta Alvarez as chairman of the group. Jesus Nuño will remain as chairman and CEO of the subsidiaries and Victor del Pozo will continue as CEO of the group with executive duties over corporate and business areas. Marta Alvarez in the largest shareholder of El Corte Ingles, along with her sister Cristina Alvarez, and she will oversee the two CEOs : Jesús Nuño de la Rosa will remain as chairman of Viajes El Corte Inglés, Seguros El Corte Inglés, Informática El Corte Inglés and Financiera El Corte Inglés and will continue as CEO of the group's subsidiaries.

On the other hand, Víctor del Pozo will be the CEO of corporate areas (economic-financial, real estate, human resources and legal services, among others) and for the retail business areas, including the Supercor, Bricor and Sfera companies.

The structure follows its good corporate governance model and ends a period of reflection started in 2018.

press release: "El Corte Ingles appoints Marta Alvarez as chairman"

Hankyu Hanshin Department Stores has announced that it has been certified by China's Tencent Holdings as a flagship department store operator for its WeChat Pay smartphone payment app. Hankyu Hanshin, based in the western Japanese city of Osaka, became the first to acquire the status among department store operators outside China. Tencent operates WeChat, China's biggest messaging service.

On the same day, the Japanese firm, a unit of H2O Retailing Corp, launched a campaign that allows customers to use discount coupons they get from its official WeChat account at nine Hankyu Hanshin stores. The campaign will run until 15 September.

It also started a service enabling those who order cosmetic products through WeChat to receive them at the Hankyu Umeda main store in Osaka.

Takashimaya of Japan has announced it would close its store in Shanghai on 25 August. The announcement came soon after Carrefour sold an 80% stake of its Chinese business to Suning.com. Takashimaya, founded in 1831, operates 17 stores in Japan, and one each in Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It entered China in 2012 in Shanghai's affluent Gubei area, and has made a loss for seven consecutive years. According to commentators, only some areas of Shanghai are appropriate for luxury retail. These include Nanjing Road West, Huaihai Road East and Lujiazui area in Pudong where Galeries Lafayette is now present.

The election of Boris Johnson as leader of the UK conservative party which makes him UK Prime Minister has been greeted around the world with what can only be described as a degree of fear. The BBC says that "his political inheritance has all the makings of a disaster". Indeed, he has no majority in the Parliament; has no mandate from the general public; and has policy problems everywhere: he has to solve Brexit with a reluctant EU and a divided party, and has deep-seated problems at home. For Le Monde in France, Johnson is "known for his eccentricity, his elastic positions, his narcissism and his lies". According to Libération, he advances by the seat of his pants, "like a chameleon, adjusting his positon according to the moment". In Germany, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung calls him "the clown who wanted to be king of the world" and mentions his nonchalance and complete unpredictability. Der Speigel predicts that as soon as he stands in front of the door at number 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister's residence), "he will begin breaking his promises". The Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad said that he will soon find out that "what he promised as a candidate cannot be achieved as prime minister". And the Irish Times despairs: "How far can Britain fall?" it asks. "The Brexit debacle has already left the country bitterly divided, its parliament paralysed, its influence diminished, its reputation shattered. Now, a new nadir: Boris Johnson is set to become prime minister. That means things could still get a lot worse". Denmark's Politiken talks of a future which could become even more "unpredictable and chaotic" under the new prime minister "who looks like a man who has slept in his car". Even Spain's El Pais recognises that few prime ministers can have faced "such a complex and urgent challenge since the first day of their term" and warns that "reality will be tough… in a job in which all blunders and scandals will carry real-world consequences".

For UK retailers, the key issues are Brexit and business rates. On Brexit, the Financial Times predicts that any renegotiation with the EU on his stated terms will end in deadlock, forcing him to pursue a no-deal Brexit. "The cost of no deal", it states, "will be seven times larger for the UK than for the EU 27". Brussels has also rejected claims that World Trade Organisation rules would allow for seamless trade after no deal. Analyst Global Data said: "the most pressing issue for retailers remains clarification on Brexit both in terms of timing and the nature of the withdrawal". A number of retailers have expressed worry about the pressure on supply chains and storage coinciding with Halloween and the busy Christmas period. Supplies of food, toys, and pharmaceuticals have been mentioned. The new government will also have to stimulate consumer confidence which has been falling and is expected to worsen as we approach the October deadline. As if this were not enough, UK retailers are becoming more vocal about the destructive impact of business rates on physical retail, and the British Retail Consortium has said that it does not expect Boris Johnson to make the changes that retailers require. Studies from both Deloitte and KPMG/Ipsos this week suggest that both consumer confidence and retail health are close to record lows.

See Financial Times Leader on Boris Johnson

See Women's Wear Daily on Boris Johnson and fashion

The success of chairman Richard Baker's $1.3bn bid to take the company private depends on whether an independent valuator will see it as more a retailer or a real estate company. Baker has offered C$9.45 a share for the remainder of the company of which he holds already 57%. Some shareholders, however, say they value the company's assets at between C$28 and C$33 a share. The difference is due to disagreements on how much of Hudson's Bay real estate can be divested while keeping it operational. Selling off property raises cash but makes it more financially burdensome for the company to rent the space for the stores it operates. A special committee including the Toronto Dominian Bank, has been granted power to prevent any deal. A similar committee recently rejected attempts by the Nordstrom family to take the company private.

Husdon's Bay operates 39 Saks Fifth Avenue, 133 Saks OFF Fifth, 40 Lord & Taylor, 90 Hudson's Bay department stores and 37 Home Outfitters due to close this year.

Nordstrom Inc and Rent the Runway announced a partnership that aims to draw more foot traffic into the department store while making the clothing rental service more convenient so it can improve service to existing customers and attract new ones. Rent the Runway "drop-off boxes," where subscribers can quickly scan and return rented items, will be placed inside four Los Angeles-based Nordstrom stores, three of which are smaller "Nordstrom Local" stores billed by the chain as "a convenient drop-in hub" closer to residential areas.

The idea is to make it more convenient for Rent the Runway subscribers to drop off rented items and explore other offerings at Nordstrom Local stores, where shoppers can consult personal stylists for fashion and beauty services, have clothes altered or make quick returns.

Los Angeles is Rent the Runway's fourth largest market, where there is a "particularly high density of subscribers living or working close to the Nordstrom Locals in West Hollywood, Brentwood and Downtown LA," the clothing rental company said.

A controlling stake in department store Liberty London has been sold to a private equity-led consortium in a deal valuing the business at £300m.

The retail landmark, which was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875 with a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, has grown to become an international brand that sells its distinctive fabric prints and luxury leather goods around the world.

The sale marks a sizeable return for the current major shareholder, private equity firm BlueGem, which bought Liberty for £32m in 2010. It refinanced the investment in 2014, reducing its stake in the department store to about 40%. BlueGem has offloaded its stake to a group led by private equity firm Glendower Capital. A majority of existing Liberty investors, including BlueGem founder Marco Capello, who will remain as non-executive chairman, are holding on to their shares in the business.

The Tudor-style store on Great Marlborough Street in central London opened in 1924 and has been extensively renovated by its current owners. The store is known for designer fashion as well as beauty, accessories, homewares and haberdashery.

The iconic Israeli department store, Hamashbir Lazarchan, is reportedly going to open an online branch with Amazon Israel, according to sources quoted by the Globes business news site. The move is being made in addition to starting its own e-commerce website, which was announced to investors at a presentation last week. Currently Hamashbir's online activity is being conducted through the azrieli.com ecommerce website.

According to the report, not every category of merchandise in its stores will be available for purchase online via Amazon; just those items in which Hamashbir Lazarchan is the official exclusive marketer, in order to minimize local competition. The chain hopes to move 10 % of its sales turnover, approximately NIS 100 million per year, to the online division within the next three years.

Selfridges is working with digital artists on a new multi-channel initiative. Called The New Order, it enhances creative collaborations by merging physical and digital shopping and luring consumers to the stores. "Selfridges is demonstrating is understanding that 'fans and engagement' are no longer 'the' sales criterion," said Rebecca Miller, founder/CEO of Miller & Company, New York. "Attention and reaction are now the standards, creating a 'new' art form for selling". The retailer worked closely with a selection of artists, including Jon Emmony, Filip Custic, Ines Alpha and Jamee-Maree Shipton, to create unique campaigns. The collaborations will be launched through September.

See video on Instagram

France's Galeries Lafayette announced it was joining forces with Mauboussin chairman Alain Nemarq to buy a majority stake in the jeweller, as the upmarket department store strengthens its roster of premium but affordable jewellery.

Mauboussin, with €80 million of annual sales, is 85 percent held by Swiss businessman Dominique Fremont who indicated he wanted to sell.

Alain Nemarq has been chairman of Mauboussin since 2002 and will continue to run the company.

The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, follows Galeries Lafayette's 2012 acquisition of French jeweller Guerin.

press release: Galeries Lafayette buys majority stake in jeweller Mauboussin

A recent film which has attracted some attention takes place partly in a department store named in the film Dentley and Soper, and concerns a "killer dress". The film called In Fabric and made by Peter Strickland, a Hungary-based British director, is set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life a cursed dress as it passes from person to person with devastating consequences. The gothic-looking creepy saleswoman tells one browsing customer that the hesitation in her voice "will soon be an echo in the recesses of the spheres of retail". Perhaps not something we would train our sales associates to say. The director, who has had several small retail jobs including, apparently, at Harvey Nichols, remembers in particular a visit to the now-closed Jacksons department store while growing up in Reading, UK.

trailer: "in fabric: a killer dress"

SOGO of Japan first opened in Singapore in Raffles City in 1986. It later opened two more outlets in Paragon and Tampines. However, the group left Singapore in 2000 because of financial troubles. Other stores in the region were taken over under independent franchises such as Lifestyle SOGO in Hong Kong, and KL SOGO in Malaysia.

This latter has just opened its third country outlet in The Mall, Mid Valley Southkey in Johor Bahru, just across the causeway from Singapore. The 200 000 sq ft store has three levels and offers cosmetics, fashion brands, international and regional, as well as home products. The aesthetic of the store is minimalist, in line with its Japanese heritage.