Department Stores Emerge as Dollar Stores Face Concern

A new report by retail consulting and research firm Customer Growth Partners shows that department stores gained market share last year for the first time in nearly three decades. According to CGP's study, department stores' share of the U.S. retail market rose for the first time since the 1980s, fueled both by innovation and superior mall anchor execution combined with top-line weakness at the granddaddy of off-mall big-boxes, Walmart's U.S. division, which is now suffering through almost two years of lagging sales.