Mill Valley

Yoga devotee Sara Walther wears a pair of Lululemon yoga pants with a Athleta convertible top to practice yoga at Moksha Yoga Center in Chicago. (Heather Charles/Chicago Tribune file photo) Maps Athleta, the trendy women’s activewear catalog, plans to open its first Chicago store on April 4, the retailer announced in an email to customers. The 3,800-square-foot store, at 3415 N. Southport Ave. in Lakeview, is part of owner Gap Inc.’s campaign to move the online merchant into brick-and-mortar stores. Gap bought the Petaluma, Calif.-based company in 2008 for $150 million and pegged it as a growth vehicle. Athleta

Kellwood announced its acquisition of Zobha, a high-performance yoga/fitness apparel and accessories company, according to Michael Kramer, president and CEO of Kellwood. Zobha is the first activewear business to join Kellwood's growing portfolio. Zobha, based out of Mill Valley, Calif., designs for individuals who lead active lifestyles and want clothing that is both functional and stylish.

MILL VALLEY, CA (BRAIN)—Alienation has just launched a new online store for its dealers (click on title and then "visit link"). Browse new products, view detailed product images and get special dealer pricing all in one stop. All orders are shipped out same day of placement allowing you to restock and resale much quicker than ever before, according to a press release. Dealers will receive discounted pricing after registering through the site. As an added bonus, Alienation will offer dealers a special discount of 15 percent off the first order after signing up. Please email rob@alienationbmx.com for instructions on

Already sold online, Athleta — owned by Gap Inc. — will open a 2,424-square-foot test store at Strawberry Village Center in Mill Valley, Calif., later this month, according to the company.

In ancient times — say 10 years ago — catalogers prided themselves on having a precisely measurable medium. They were the scientists of the marketing world. Most catalogers took the majority of their orders by phone and spent a great deal of effort capturing source codes and order IDs from every call. As computer technology and database expertise became cheaper and more widely available, we were not only able to measure precisely which customers responded to our mailings, but also what they bought and from which editions of our catalogs. We measured the performance of every square inch of every edition and smugly thought