Colette, the renowned Parisian boutique, is closing down after 20 years. Considered as Paris first concept store, the boutique was founded in 1997 by Colette Roussaux, and has been led by her daughter Sarah Andelman in recent years. The three-storey, 8,000-square-foot space has become a destination for fashion fans. It sells everything from niche film camera to accessibly-priced souvenirs and t-shirts, and is the go-to for exclusive launches of brands, special products and independent magazines. Colette is also known for its combination of high-end ready-to-wear and streetwear, making it one of the first to embrace the fusion of luxury fashion with an edgy street aesthetic. Colette is one of the fashion world's most iconic "concept stores" and was something of a pilgrimage site during Paris Fashion Week.

Australian department stores giant David Jones is targeting a young generation of foodies with the first phase of a A$100m investment in gourmet foods. It will unveil a flagship food hall at its Sydney's Bondi Junction store in August, bringing in celebrity chef Neil Perry to shape its gourmet offer. As well as the additional space for upscale groceries, it will be offering gourmet meals-to-go and upgraded eat-in options. The new plan means there will also be a food market in its smaller store at the Wollongong Central shopping centre, while Bourke Street Mall food hall in Melbourne will be made over this year. The company is also planning standalone gourmet convenience food stores. While the large food halls will measure 1,700-2500 sq m, the convenience stores will cover 300-500 sq m with a curated version of the larger offer.

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Last month, Galeries Lafayette celebrated the opening of two new outlet units in the east of France. The two outlets range items from fashion to accessories and shoes. Galeries Lafayette hopes that the stores, both located in outlet centers, will attract French and international customers, mainly from Germany.

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Unveiled at a recent IKEA Canada event, the IKEA Cook This Page Parchment Paper Recipe Series is a collection of baking paper pages, printed with recipes in edible ink. Illustrated sections of the paper show would-be cooks exactly where to lay ingredients, indicating with stylised images, circles and boxes the amount needed. The ingredients and any equipment can all be purchased from IKEA and once laid out on the paper sheet are simply wrapped up into the paper itself as a bag 'en papillote' (in paper) and popped into the oven. You really do 'cook this page'. What emerges is a finished and delicious dish, minus the thinking and maybe plus some fun, for some people.

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Marks & Spencer announced a major community transformation programme as part of Plan A 2025 – its new plan to support 1,000 communities, help 10 million people live happier, healthier lives and convert M&S into a zero-waste business. In order to achieve these goals, M&S has designed a three-pillar taking into accournt: customer and colleague wellbeing, communities and workers lives, and the overall health of the planet.

The pioneering programme will see M&S work with local councils and charity partners to support communities to deliver positive, measurable change. It will initially be piloted in ten communities over the next two years [Birmingham, Bradford, Glasgow, Liverpool, Derry~Londonderry, Merthyr Tydfil, Middlesbrough, London Borough of Newham, Norwich and Rochdale], when M&S will trial a range of actions designed to tackle the issues that matter most to communities – such as unemployment, skill shortages, loneliness, poverty, and mental health and wellbeing.

Under its Caring for the Planet pillar, M&S hopes to make substantial improvements to its environmental footprint and go further by making its entire business model zero waste from its operations to its supply chains and products. The retailer has committed to making all of its packaging 'widely recyclable' by 2022 and halving its food waste by 2025. M&S has also committed to ensuring all of its raw materials come from sustainable sources by 2025, including cotton by 2019.

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Marks & Spencer has announced annual sales of £10.6 billion with clothing and homewares down 5.9% in the first three months of 2017. Underlying sales in food were also down by 2.1%. The pre-tax profit before one-off items were still £614 m, but once pay and pension charges and store closure costs are taken into account, the statutory pre-tax profit falls to £176m, down 63.5% on the previous year. With a recently appointed chairman, and a new fashion executive (see article below), share price has risen and some commentators seem hopeful. The recently unveiled autumn/winter collection has been described as appealing more to "middle England" shoppers with fewer "showstopper" items.

The EmQuartier Shopping Complex affirmed its reputation as Thailand's ultimate shopping experience and the must-visit destination for tourists as it recently received the "2017 People's Choice Awards Thailand" in the Shopping Centre category, voted by Chinese tourists and organized by The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Operated by The Mall, EmQuartier is a major tourist destination, a place where cutting-edge interior design meets technological innovation, and where more than 1,000 world-class Thai and international brands are showcased.

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According to a global study by Accenture and reported in MIT Sloan Management Review, artificial intelligence and automation will cause a wave of job displacement. However, they will also create many new jobs that might look nothing like those that exist today. A global survey of 1000 large companies already using or testing AI and machine learning shows the emergence of new, uniquely human jobs. Three new categories of business and technology jobs are mentioned: trainers, explainers and sustainers. Humans in these roles will complement the tasks performed by cognitive technology, ensuring that the work of machines is effective and responsible.

Amazon is testing a beta version of a new idea it is calling "Prime Wardrobe". Prime customers get access to a broad assortment of brands in apparel and footwear which they can order and keep for seven days before purchasing. Unlike Stich Fix or Trunk Club, there is no fee for the service. Amazon offers members the flexibility of choosing and trying on what they want without the curation of the other services, and provides a seamless and free returns channel which emphasises convenience.

A serie of documentaries by Arte unveiling the world of department stores. [in French]

Goum, Moscow

Galeries Lafayette, Paris

Macy's, New York City

KaDeWe, Berlin

The struggling department store chain is switching up its broad promotional messaging to communicate more tactically. It will also explore changing the mix of media that it uses, try to improve its fashion cred with customers and introduce a new loyalty program at the end of the year. The changes are part of the new marketing positioning from Richard Lennox, an ad industry veteran who joined Macy's as chief marketing officer last year. As part of the new strategy, Macy's will rebalance its media mix partly to rely more on 15-second, local TV ads and less on 30-second national spots. Also, rather than confuse consumers with a billion random-seeming promotions, new messaging will be organized around four annual tentpole events for spring, summer, fall and the winter holidays. "The idea is not to pull back on promotions, it's to make sure the different species of promotions we run are clear and distinct -- one-day sales aimed at deal hunters, or friends and family aimed at fashion spending," said Lennox. Lennox also outlined the early stages of Macy's new loyalty program, which is meant to simplify the coupon process. The program will begin as a reinvention of Macy's current reward program aimed at credit card holders, but move to be a "tender-neutral" offering -- meaning it includes shoppers regardless of payment type -- in 2018.

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The 81-year old Shanghai No1 department store on Nanjing Road will close from 19 June to end October for a major facelift. It will re-open along with its neighbouring Orient Shopping Centre after adjustments to meet the demands of consumers in the internet era, according to the district government. The two parts will be integrated with skywalks according to the Bailian Group which owns both stores. The main store will be restored to its 1936 look but with a rooftop garden, an international food market and bookstore added. The Orient shopping centre will concentrate on younger fashion. Other stores on Nanjing and Huaihai will also close for renovation including Wing On and New World Department Store next year.

Edcon group of South Africa has announced results with retail sales down 6.7% to R25 343 million. The year included the sale of the Legit business, new ownership and debt restructuring. Pro-forma adjusted EBITDA was down 45% to R1 383 m. The Edgars department store sales were down 6.7% to R10 164 m. Gross profit margin was down to 41.2% due to a focus on competitive entry price points.

A new CEO has been appointed from next January 2018 to take over from Bernie Brookes when his contract ends. Grant Pattison will take the role of Chief Operating Officer from 5 June. Brookes, who joined Edcon in 2015, oversaw the easing of a crippling debt burden. Pattison's task will be to restore growth to the company.

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David Jones of Australia has signed another label in its battle with Myer. The label, Self Portrait is a favourite with the Duchess of Cambridge and is known for its modern, edgier take on lace dresses. The signing takes to at least four the number of labels David Jones has snatched from Myer this year. It has been on a run of label signings since head women's wear buyer Teneille Ferguson joined from Myer earlier this year.

Amazon announced they will purchase Whole Foods Market for $42 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion. Whole Foods Market will continue to operate stores under the Whole Foods banner once the transaction closes, which is expected to go through in the second half of this year. "Whole Foods Market has been satisfying, delighting and nourishing customers for nearly four decades – they're doing an amazing job and we want that to continue," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

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See Financial Times article

The recent International Council of Shopping Center's Recon conference in Las Vegas had a prescription for dealing with the greatest contraction in retail and malls for decades: innovate; cut rents; focus on food, beauty and fitness. There is a polarisation between dominant malls and the weaker centres. But ultimately, the closures will be healthy for department stores and specialty stores since they do not need so much space to sell their products. The vacant space will be used for fitness or grocery, will be subdivided, or will be torn down for residential. But big developers such as Caruso still have a number of projects for centres in the pipeline. Also since the rents fell somewhat recently, a number of online players such as Bonobos, Trunk Club, and Warby Parker have been expressing interest in opening stores. In terms of categories, it is clearly apparel which is suffering while beauty, food and fitness are the winners at the moment.

Erik Nordstrom recently (and unusually) made a presentation at a public conference. He spoke about the company's single biggest investment: the store in Manhattan scheduled to open in two phases in 2018 and 2019. He also emphasised the importance of innovation to the company. They have even created a new role, that of Chief Innovation Officer to think about the position of stores. His conclusions on specific priorities: data; mobile; stores; platform; and a new financial model to fit where customers are going.

see presentation

Neiman Marcus, continuing to explore new concepts for its selling floors, has launched "The Wellness Shop" inside its stores in NorthPark Center in Dallas and Willowbend Mall in Plano, Texas, which offers beauty brands that are either natural, organic, eco-cert, or clean and green. Neiman's Wellness Shop has an open-sell format with shelving units, towers and tables for customers to easily select products. They're organized by category — bath, cleanse, moisturize, masks, serums and oils, body, supplements, hair and fragrance — rather than by vendor. There are 23 brands in The Wellness Shop, 21 of which are new to Neiman. The Dallas-based luxury chain has become more open to new concepts and experimentation to lift traffic and sales and provide new services (DreamDry hair salons, Last Call Plus Size departments, Rent the Runway rental outpost …). Neiman Marcus will roll out the new concept to stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Michigan Avenue in August.

Following Mattel's recent makeover of Barbie, now boyfriend/companion Ken has undergone a wide-ranging re-boot with the launch of varying body sizes, and on-trend hairstyles. However, none of the new Kens have a beard. The 15 new and diverse Ken dolls, feature three body types (slim, broad and original), seven skin tones, eight hair colours, nine hairstyles and updated fashion looks ranging from casual business attire to athleticwear. They join the expanded Barbie Fashionistas line, with Mattel saying this makes it the most diverse fashion doll line in the marketplace. While Ken sales are not released separately to Barbie, Mattel has said that girls own around one Ken for every seven barbies that they have. Given that Barbie sales rose around 7% after her diversity makeover, Mattel must be hoping for a similar impact this time around.

Since July 2016, the BHV store in Paris has been allowed to open on Sundays. Since then, its parent store Galeries Lafayette has done the same, as has the LVMH-owned Bon Marche on the other side of the river. From 11 June this year, the last Parisian department store, Le Printemps will also open on Sunday. According to the city-centre retail federation, Sunday opening will have created 1000 jobs (excluding indirect jobs at the suppliers). Sunday has become the second most important shopping day of the week. Gleries Lafayette and BHV talk of a sales increase of between 7% and 10%, while Printemps is hoping for 5%.

A short piece by RSR, a small US-based systems research group, asks who owns the customer experience in store. Merchandising believes it knows the customer best, and the best way to service customers is through assortment and merchandising. Marketing believes it owns customer data and is most closely aligned with the customer, as opposed to the product.  The natural answer to the question would be store operations. However, no one in store operations is really responsible for "customer experience" as such.

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Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM, a Scotland-based retailer) plans to launch a 50-strong department store chain in the UK. The news came as the UK fashion group confirmed the acquisition of the failed Jaeger group's brand name. Philip Day, the billionaire owner of EWM, wants to open at least 50 signature Days stores, the first of which opened in Carmarthen, South Wales, late last week. Another three are expected to open this year, including two in Newcastle and Bedford, shortly. The first Days store was opened in a former BHS unit and houses all the EWM group brands, which include Austin Reed, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Country Casuals and Jaeger. A spokesman for Days said: "Over the past decade, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill group has built up a portfolio of excellent British brands and we believe bringing these all together with carefully selected partners will deliver an exciting and enjoyable shopping experience for everyone.

Walmart will pay $310 million in cash for the internet men clothing brand. However, Bonobos clothing won't be sold on Walmart's website or stores. Instead, it will be available on Jet.com, the online marketplace Walmart recently bought for $3 billion. Bonobos is just the latest online company that Walmart has purchased, joining women's retailer ModCloth, outdoor gear supplier Moosejaw and ShoeBuy. Bonobos grew in popularity over the past decade for offering high-quality clothing and a better fit than most online retailers. Bonobos founder and CEO Andy Dunn will remain with Walmart in an expanded role, overseeing its growing collection of "digitally native vertical brands." The deal is expected to close later this year.

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See Financial Times article

BHV/Marais has launched its South Africa event. Until 31 July 2017, the Parisian department store is celebrating the Rainbow Nation's fashion and design through a series a store events. BHV has invited several South African retailers to cover every sector of the department store: home decor, fashion, culture, art and tourism. It is celebrating the South Africa of today, a worthy player on the international fashion and design stage, whose roaring creativity remains loyal to its culture. L'Observatoire on the 5th floor welcomes an exhibition of contemporary South African design, highlighting the vibrancy of South Africa's cultural and artistic scene.

see press release