Retail Stores

Recent evidence points to a possible partnership between Apple Retail and Fairfield University that could mark the second university bookstore to gain an official Apple Store. The president of Fairfield University announced plans for a new bookstore last week, noting that the school was "in discussions with an industry leading computer retailer to have a presence in the bookstore."

Athleta, a sportswear brand that Gap purchased in 2008, is planning to open eight to 10 more brick-and-mortar stores by year's end and 50 locations by 2013 to "grow the business and provide what women want."

Any browning evergreen tree, melted snowman or sweaty Santa can tell you Christmas in July is a bad idea. Maybe one day retailers will get the same message. The Christmas in July gimmick stretches back to at least 1940, when a film of the same name was released and retailers saw an opportunity to unload their surplus of dusty tinsel packets, frosted fake trees and fossilized candy canes.

Amazon's Quidsi business (Diapers.com, Soap.com, BeautyBar.com and Wag.com) is looking at opening a 1,600 square-foot BeautyBar store in Manhasset, N.Y., according to a Women's Wear Daily report.

Retail same-store sales grew 7.1 percent in June, Kantar Retail reported. The increase was attributed to a drop in gasoline prices. The increase was higher than the 5.7 percent same-store sales gain in May and the 3.2 percent gain last June.

As 1 World Trade Center starts to claim a place on the Lower Manhattan skyline, the area’s retail scene is beginning to revive, with landlords raising rents in anticipation of thousands of new office workers, tourists and residents, commercial real estate experts said.

Casual Male has officially opened its first men's superstore catering to the big and tall man called Destination XL. DXL is a unique, all-inclusive destination offering over 2,000 styles under one roof from four existing apparel businesses, Casual Male XL, Rochester Big & Tall, Shoes XL and B&T Direct.

The fastest-growing company in web history, Groupon's daily-deal site marries cents-off coupons to a Friday-after-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy. The company broke into the black just seven months after inception; globally, more than 500 copycat sites have already sprung up.

WiFi is becoming more widely available and affordable on flights. As such, e-commerce is increasingly taking place at 35,000 feet with a crop of deals enabling online shopping for free.

The labor strife now embroiling two major league sports could inflict some financial pain on retailers that sell team-related goods, according to research released by Sterne, Agee & Leach, especially if the two sides remain at loggerheads for an extended period of time.