Content about Chicago

Chicago -- Dillard's has selected OpinionLab to extend its omnichannel “Voice of Customer” program including its digital, mobile and in-store experiences, with precise insight into what its customers want and need.

Bucksbaum Retail Properties opened for business in April 2012. The Chicago-based company has already opened one project and is working on four more.

The 53,000-sq.-ft. Kingsbury Center near North Chicago has opened with four tenants: Buy Buy Baby, PetSmart, Road Runner Sports and Jimmy Johns. It is a joint venture with Chicago-based Structured Development.

I visited my first Von Maur store in 1999, a decade after I relocated from southern boomtown Atlanta to Lincoln, Neb., a sleepy college town that only really wakes up on Husker football Saturdays. Today I am back home in Baton Rouge, La., still no bustling metropolis, but the food and football trump.

Chicago -- Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services said it has named Stephen Rachman as regional manager of its Chicago O’Hare office.

Rachman began his career at Marcus & Millichap in 2002 as an agent in the firm’s Chicago O’Hare office and, in 2004, relocated to the Chicago Downtown office. Named senior associate in 2005, and then VP investments in March 2013, Rachman returned to the Chicago O’Hare office in March.
 

Starbucks Coffee Company's two-level store at the corner of Chicago's Oak and Rush Streets has a distinct Chicago feel, and reinforces the company's recycled, reclaimed and reused materials philosophy and coffee origins theme. The walls are lined with reclaimed local brick; salvaged wood from disused boxcars clads walls, ceilings and fixtures. A floor-to-ceiling diagram of the world’s coffee-growing regions, done by a local artist, is featured downstairs.

Chicago -- Lemont, Ill.-based Englewood Construction said Wednesday that its restaurant group has begun work on four new projects, including a food court in New Jersey’s largest outlet mall, a steakhouse in a downtown Chicago luxury hotel and two suburban Chicago mall restaurants.

“As we head out of the recession, we’re seeing more importance placed on dining and entertainment, and the focus is on redevelopment,” said William Di Santo, president, Englewood Construction.

New York -- CVS Caremark has donated $250,000 to the Chicago State University’s College of Pharmacy for the development of the CVS Caremark Student Center and Technology Laboratory.

“This donation will help to improve the College’s physical space and technological resources, which greatly enhances student success within the College of Pharmacy. To say thank you is an understatement,” stated Dean Miriam Mobley Smith with the College of Pharmacy.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced two new locations for Nordstrom Rack, with stores planned for Chicago and Jacksonville, Fla.

In Jacksonville, Nordstrom Rack will open in The Markets at Town Center in Jacksonville, Fla. The approximately 35,000-sq.-ft. store is scheduled to open in fall 2013.

The announcement follows recently announced plans to open a Nordstrom full-line store at St. Johns Town Center in fall 2014. Nordstrom currently operates nine full-line stores and eight Rack stores throughout Florida.

Chicago -- AWE Talisman and Macerich announced Monday that Fashion Outlets of Chicago will open on August 1 in Rosemont, Ill., featuring Bloomingdale's The Outlet Store, Last Call by Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th and 120 additional brands.

The two-level, 530,000-sq.-ft. outlet mall is the first fully enclosed, multi-level property with this level of amenities in the Chicago area in more than two decades, according to both companies.

Chicago -- The retail industry is poised for another year of heavy deal flow. Nearly all retail CFOs (94%) expect merger and acquisition will increase or remain steady in 2013, according to a new survey from BDO USA.

The bullish forecasts follow $324.6 billion in global retail and consumer M&A activity in 2012, which was up 33% over 2011 and the busiest year since 2007, according to Dealogic. A majority of CFOs (68%) expect the U.S. markets to see a majority of deal volume, followed by the Asia-Pacific market (20%) and Latin America market (7%).

New York -- Banana Republic is partnering with Match.com to host in-store meet and greet events for the online dating site’s subscribers in key markets, including San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. The partnership is part of the retailer’s newly announced “Love” global marketing campaign.

To further engage consumers, Banana Republic will ask their Instagram and Twitter followers to share photos of hearts for a chance to be featured in a special Valentine's Day album posted on the brand’s Facebook page.


Chicago -- Automation and mass production will continue to make life easier in the years ahead, but consumers and companies will react by valuing – and promoting – human services and artisan goods. That’s one of the key trends research firm Mintel predicts will be impacting consumer behavior in the next five to 10 years.

As part of its lunch of Mintel Futures, a new program designed to forecast long-term industry trends, Mintel identified six key trends affecting the global consumer market in the near future: