J.Crew-owned brand Madewell is generating buzz and traffic without resorting to discounting by releasing a new denim product every day for 24 days. Some are collaborations with outsiders such as denim Vans shoes, a Gwyneth Paltrow Goop jumpsuit, and an ABC Carpet and Home chair. Others are new products or re-released classics. While still small, Madewell is growing, up 17% in the first quarter, as its parent J.Crew loses sales.

After a successful partnership with Nordstrom spotlighting its Madewell brand, J. Crew announced that as of Sept. 12 its flagship label will also sell a special assortment of women's apparel and accessories in 16 of the Seattle-based department store chain's brick-and-mortar locations as well as its website.

Lifestyle International is looking to open a third Sogo department store in a troubled Hong Kong retail arena, investing at least HK$5bn ($644m) in the venture.

The Illum department store in Copenhagen, owned by Rinascente of Italy, is to open a Prada flagship, a Bucherer space and the first Eataly food concept in Denmark before the end of the year. Prada will be on three floors and is part of the $70 million revamp of the store. The beauty area is next in line for remodelling. Eataly will occupy 2000 m² in the basement and include five restaurants and a grocery shop. According to management, that and the recent Illum Rooftop restaurant area will considerably increase footfall.

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Saks Fifth Avenue's Key to the Cure campaign is always a team effort of A-list talent from fashion and Hollywood. Now in its 18th year, the 2016 cancer research campaign will feature Halle Berry as the face of the initiative, wearing a limited-edition T-shirt designed by Christian Louboutin. The campaign breaks Oct. 1, when the T-shirt will be available for $35 at all Saks Fifth Avenue locations in U.S. and Canada as well as on saks.com and saksoff5th.com. Saks has long worked with the Entertainment Industry Foundation on Key to the Cure. For the second year in a row, 100 percent of the sales of the T-shirts will benefit Stand Up to Cancer, an EIF offshoot created to fuel innovative cancer research through collaboration among leading scientists from different institutions and disciplines. To support the cause, Saks hosts an annual charity shopping weekend beginning Oct. 27 at its 40 locations. Organizations which benefited from Saks Key to the Cure charity include the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, EIF's Women's Cancer Research Fund, Cleveland Clinic, Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Nevada Cancer Institute

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Selfridges of London has launched a social media-friendly shoppable app that aims to redefine the conventional mobile shopping journey. The app was created in partnership with provider NN4M and provides customers with a personalized shopping experience across the Selfridges range. It enables customers to browse products via an embedded Instagram feed. It also follows the redesign and relaunch of the retailer's website 18 months ago.

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Mexican department store company El Puerto de Liverpool SAB de CV announced that it has acquired the retail chain Suburbia from Wal-Mart de México SAB de CV for a total of Mx$19,000 million (approximately US$1 billion), pending review by Mexican regulatory agencies. The purchase ends months of speculation as to who would be the new owner of Suburbia after Walmart announced in January that it was seeking a buyer for the retail chain, which had 119 outlets as of the purchase, all located within Mexico. The Suburbia acquisition is Liverpool's second major deal in the past two months, following the early July purchase of Chilean department store chain Ripley. With the purchase of Suburbia, Liverpool adds the 119 Suburbia outlets to its existing store network, which includes Liverpool's 193 retail outlets in Mexico as of the close of 2015. The Ripley deal adds an additional 43 stores in Chile (276,080 sqm) and 27 stores in Peru (177,799 sqm), per company filings. All told, Liverpool has added over 900,000 square meters of retail space to its portfolio since July 1 2016.

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Bloomingdale's has teamed up with NYC-based graffiti artist Greg Lamarche to illuminate the retailer's 100% Bloomingdale's fall campaign, as well as to create exclusive merchandise for the national chain.

Canadian department store chain Holt Renfrew will celebrate craft, culture and global artisans this fall as it launches Uncrate South America and its ethically sourced designer products in H Project shops across Canada. Following earlier H Project spotlights on India (2104) and Africa (2015), this socially conscious initiative brings together 23 brands for Uncrate South America's Sept. 6 launch. Together, the array of artisanal, hand-woven alpaca sweaters; festive drop earrings; colorful clutch handbags; earth-tone tasseled pillows and rugs, and decorative porcelain showcases the designs and crafts of South America's indigenous peoples and geographic regions. Each designer has used ethically sourced materials or those that support a charitable cause to create the products, which will be exclusive to Holt Renfrew and, for the first time, on holtrenfrew.com.

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Department stores in Korea are battling each other with their food offers. In the past, the in-store restaurants tended to be operated by a subsidiary or a family company. Thus Lotte used Yukyung restaurant operated by the founder's third wife. Similarly Hyundai favoured its subsidiary Green Food. Now both are opening up to outside concepts which are popular with customers. Lotte will introduce a sushi format as well as a Chinese restaurant and a European casual eatery. Hyundai is focusing on attracting popular formats to its food courts. Shinsegae has also introduced new restaurants this year: youth-driven concepts from Gangnam and Hongdae have been popular. They say that new restaurants attract more customers to the stores.

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Eataly will open its second unit in Manhattan this summer in the Westfield center at the World Trade Center. The company expects a different type of customer from the first store: people in that area start work early so Eataly is offering breakfast. Like the others, this store will have a unique restaurant, in this case with specialties from southern Italy. It will also specialize in breads. The store will be open daily until 11pm.

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Macy's said that it will close 100 full-line stores by early 2017, targeting locations where the value of the real estate exceeds their value as retail stores.

The Galeries Lafayette group launches a responsible fashion collection, "Fashion Integrity by Galeries Lafayette". Designed by the Galeries Lafayette private brand, the Fashion Integrity collection is the result of an innovation challenge launched by the Group for its employees. The collection relies on a simple idea: offering clients sustainable clothes created in 100% traceable processes, from harvesting the raw material all the way to the store. For this first collection, Fashion Integrity by Galeries Lafayette has chosen to focus on cotton, with a selection of items produced every step of the way (from farming, ginning, spinning, weaving, dye, packaging to transportation) according to strict criteria within the respect of the men and women who worked for their production, health and the environment

See press release

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Pyrenees department store of Andorra has signed a franchise agreement with FNAC of France to sell books, music, cultural and electronic products on 1300 m² occupying the basement of the store. Delegates at the Finance Directors' meeting in June in Andorra saw the preparation work at the store.

See pictures

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Harrods has teamed with Burberry on a partnership that includes a series of holiday initiatives titled "A Very British Fairy Tale." The activities, which kick off in November, will see the windows of the Brompton store decorated in an imaginative snowy landscape. The showcase follows two children who travel to an English country house and features flying cars, floating bathtubs and secret trails. The label will also design an exclusive capsule collection of ready-to-wear, accessories and gifts. The brand will mount craftsmanship and personalization stations at the store, where shoppers can view artisans monogramming Burberry merchandise. In addition, dishes from Thomas' café will be available for purchase at the food halls. The Harrods Christmas tree will also be designed by Burberry and will be placed in the grand entrance of the store.

Selfridges is planning to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death by opening a 100-seat theatre in the Oxford Street store. A new production of Much Ado About Nothing will be staged in September and shoppers will be able to follow production and rehearsals. It is the result of collaboration between the retailer, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and The Faction theatre company. Windows will also echo the Shakespeare event.

South Korea's Shinsegae Department Store announced it is extending its mutual VIP service agreement to include Paris' Le Bon Marché. The latest partnership follows the success of similar reciprocal agreements with Harrods in London and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York.

British Land has confirmed it has reached a deal with a private investor to sell off its Debenhams building on Oxford Street for £400 million.

Robinsons Land Corp (RLC) has more than doubled the size of its Ilocos, Philippines mall, adding a new lifestyle wing.

Shopping mall operator Scentre Group is considering turning the historic David Jones Market Street store in Sydney into a niche fashion retail hub for emerging designers and independent labels. Scentre Group, which is the lead bidder for the David Jones location, is in due diligence to buy the site for A$370m after beating a close offer from a joint venture of Stockland and Cbus Property. Retail executives said the store could be converted into a precinct showcasing new local designers and cult European brands, following the success of other niche retail destinations such as Melbourne's St Collins Lane and Sydney's Ivy Laneway. This is driven by more and more international brands looking to expand in the Australian market, particularly niche European labels.

Imagine a shop where you can buy everything... OK, you've heard of the Internet, but think of an actual real-life shop. Because there's something about a physical store that online shopping just can't replace. And nothing beats a classic department store. In addition to selling stacks of different merchandise and brands, these extravagantly designed stores-within-stores offer something else -- an experience. "Historically the big downtown department stores were almost like city centers," says Jan Whitaker, a department store historian who's penned two books on these emporiums of commerce.

Galeries Lafayette Group said it has acquired luxury goods reseller Instantluxe.com for an undisclosed sum. The move follows the acquisition by rival French department store chain Printemps of French fashion e-commerce site Place des Tendances in 2013 and signals a growing trend for department store to bolster their online offering.

Shinsegae Duty Free has rolled out seven luxury brands at Seoul's Incheon International Airport in an aggressive move to bolster its high-end retail business. Six of the brands are new to the airport and exclusively operated by Shinsegae, – Balenciaga, Moncler, Miu Miu, Celine, Fendi and Marc Jacobs, while the seventh store, Hermès, has another store operated by Shilla Duty Free. Shinsegae Duty Free had been focused on accessories brands at the airport but would now target to open more luxury units. At its downtown location in Myeongdong, Shinsegae Duty Free has also brought in a slew of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Chanel as part of its renovation in May.

Charlotte, NC-based Belk department store said that Tim Belk, a member of the third generation of the founding Belk family, will retire as CEO this month after serving in that capacity since 2004. He will remain on the company's board after he steps down.