Stores Weekly

Three of the first four businesses on STORES Magazine’s Hot 100 Retailers list are supermarket chains ultimately owned by foreign-based companies. At the top of the chart is Lidl, part of Lidl Siftung & Co., based in Neckarsulm, Germany. In the No. 3 slot is Grupo Comercial Chadraui, Mexico’s third-largest retailer. And, right behind at No. 4 is Don Quijote, Japan’s largest discounter, which bought the Hawaiian chain Time Supermarkets two years ago.

With a name that perfectly describes what happens within, Punch Bowl Social’s hybrid of casual restaurants and entertainment centers has brought tremendous growth to the company. Annual sales have increased up to 45 percent in the past five years.

Many years ago, STORES Editor-in-Chief Susan Reda had the privilege to meet and interview Charles Lazarus, founder and chairman of the groundbreaking Toys “R” Us superstore. Lazarus had just relinquished the CEO title to Michael Goldstein for the first time since the company’s inception and was energized by what he believed the future held.

DQ has added an extra layer of sweetness to its offerings by placing them at the very center of summer fun. This isn’t just about encouraging folks to include ice cream in whatever they’re doing; the Box of Happy experience-centric subscription kit comes packed with themed fun — in addition to a $10 gift card for the Blizzard of the month frozen treat.

Abercrombie & Fitch recently turned up the volume on its longstanding loud-and-proud partnership with The Trevor Project by featuring LGBTQ activists and ambassadors in its #FaceYourFierce campaign. The #FaceYourFierce campaign, which debuted in February as part of the relaunch of A&F’s Fierce fragrance, has highlighted a variety of folks who “live fiercely.”

On NRF’s Retail Gets Real podcast, James Mullan, former senior vice president and head of U.S. business at U.K. consulting firm GDR Creative Intelligence, describes trends in retail today that he thinks will have the biggest impact in the future and shares how retailers can adapt and evolve to rapidly changing consumer behavior. Listen here and subscribe.

For the latest issue of the Consumer View report, NRF surveyed shoppers to better understand their expectations surrounding technology and what they hope to see in the future. The “Robot in the Room” results show that regardless of whether they’re shopping online, mobile or in-store, more than three out of five consumers say retail technologies have improved the experiences. Learn more.

At the inaugural NRF NXT event last week, retail digital leaders met in Las Vegas to figure out what’s next for retail, and one theme came to the forefront: Retail has traditionally organized around the store or the website; now it’s time to organize around — and optimize for — the customer. No one talks about doing business in anything other than a “customer-centric” way, but NRF NXT made it clear that the gap between theory and practice is significant for many retailers. It’s time to close it. Read more.