Thanksgiving weekend shoppers spend less in stores, more online
Weekend shoppers picked up hot toys, TVs and new Apple products, buying both online and in stores, but spent less per person because of rampant discounting that they’ve come to demand.
Weekend shoppers picked up hot toys, TVs and new Apple products, buying both online and in stores, but spent less per person because of rampant discounting that they’ve come to demand.
Shares in Taubman Centers Inc. surged Wednesday, one day after Jonathan Litt, an activist investor known for targeting real estate companies, pushed for the mall owner to cut costs or consider a sale of the company.
Most U.S. malls are still dependent on department stores to draw customers, but with consumers doing more shopping online, retail centers are increasingly relying on restaurants, entertainment amenities and even medical facilities to attract traffic.
Shares in WP Glimcher Inc. fell nearly 7 percent Monday after the Columbus-based retail landlord refuted reports it was involved in merger negotiations with Indianapolis-based Kite Realty Group Trust.
An analyst predicted Macerich Co. could face a sustained period of underperformance after the shopping mall owner spurned the $16.8 billion offer from Simon Property Group Inc.
By buying Macerich, the largest U.S. mall owner would expand its holdings on the West Coast and add top-tier properties that rarely come up for sale. The offer will be withdrawn if Simon is unable to meet with Macerich to negotiate terms of an agreement by April 1.
Just call 2014 the year of the corporate spinoff frenzy. And 2015 might be just as crazy.
There’s a hunger in the retail industry for lower-tier, “B” shopping centers, seen as a bargain by potential owners. A $4.3 billion deal in the works involving a Simon Property Group spinoff could trigger more transactions.
Love Culture Inc., the bankrupt clothing chain, won court permission to hold expedited store-closing sales, over the objection of unsecured creditors, including Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group Inc.
Simon also purchased the company’s 50-percent stake in Arizona Mills Taubman received $230 million in Simon Property shares and $60 million in cash for the two transactions.
Compared with last December, shoppers are more choosy this year and holding back on spending at brick-and-mortar locations. But even online sales are running below their expected growth rate.
Faced with smaller crowds of less confident consumers, as well as six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than last year, retailers are pouring on margin-eating discounts to grab market share.
Shopping mall owners like Simon Property Group, the best-performing U.S. property stocks for four years, have tumbled to the worst as sluggish retail sales and limited opportunities to expand drive investors to look elsewhere for earnings growth.
The $25 million purchase ranked as the 12th-largest residential sale in New York City last year, according to the real estate website Curbed NY.
A company spokesman said damage was minor at Simon’s malls and outlet centers in New York and other areas hit by the storm.
Billionaire Herb Simon is betting online gambling will become legal—and that a new company he’s backing will reap a payoff as a result.
Retailer bankruptcies likely will weigh on earnings of retail landlords, especially those that own shopping centers and mid-quality malls, an analyst said. But upscale mall owners like Simon Property Group should feel a smaller impact.
People hit the stores after Christmas to buy, indulging the rediscovered retail appetite that may have made 2010’s holiday shopping season the biggest ever.
Analysts predict Simon Property Group Inc. will pay off debt and wait patiently for its next opportunity after withdrawing
separate offers to either acquire General Growth Properties or finance its exit from bankruptcy. A New York judge had endorsed
a rival plan that allows General Growth to stay independent.
David Simon, the shrewd and blunt deal-maker—an acquisitive former Wall Street wunderkind who transformed Simon Property
Group Inc. into the nation’s largest mall owner—is trying to land his biggest deal yet.