Storefronts: What the tenants are up to

Walmart is working with Verizon to outfit stores with 5-G wireless service, which will power the digital health services the retailer is planning. The speed of 5-G would enable customers to use their smartphones to interact with health care professionals over streaming video. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model)

Smaller stores helped boost Abercrombie & Fitch same-store sales by 8 percent in the fourth quarter. Wall Street analysts had expected a 3.3 percent increase. The company has closed many of its large flagship stores to focus on smaller units. Reuters

Fifth Wall Ventures raised $100 million to invest in e-tailers that want to open physical stores. Acadia Realty Trust and Macerich have invested in the fund and have plans to lease to those e-tailers that Fifth Wall is supporting. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model)

Traffic accelerated at Kohl’s stores after the holiday season, thanks in part to the department-store chain’s program for accepting returned merchandise from e-commerce giant Amazon.com. Kohl’s CEO Michelle Gass says the number of people returning Amazon merchandise at Kohl’s stores surged after the holidays, helping boost same-store sales in January. CNBC

Online bedding and home-goods retailer Brooklinen scored $50 million in funding for expansion. Venture-capital fund Summit Partners will give the company money to open new stores and enter new markets. Brooklinen’s first store opened this year, in Brooklyn, N.Y. TechCrunch

Spanish silver-jewelry brand UnoDe50 will open a store at each of three airports, in Charlotte, N.C.; Salt Lake City; and Seattle. The Madrid-based company operates 23 stores across the U.S. and Canada. JCK

East Coast supermarket chain Harris Teeter will no longer be open 24 hours a day. Its 260 stores will now operate only from 6 a.m. to midnight. Live 5

Applebee’s is to begin using ghost kitchens — facilities set up exclusively for deliveries — to expand services and boost sales in large Midwestern cities where the cost of physical restaurants might be prohibitive, according to Steve Joyce, CEO of the restaurant chain’s parent, Dine Brands. Nation’s Restaurant News

New Zealand–based men’s apparel and lifestyle brand Rodd & Gunn will open two stores in Northern California: one at the Westfield Valley Fair (in Santa Clara) and the other at Broadway Plaza (in Walnut Creek). The openings bring the upscale brand’s U.S. unit total to 10. The chain, which opened its first U.S. unit in 2011, operates 100 stores across Australia and New Zealand. WWD (subscription required)

Actress Sarah Jessica Parker will open a seventh store in New York City for her SJP by Sarah Jessica Parker shoe brand. The 1,350-square-foot store replaces a former Manolo Blahnik boutique on the ground floor of a private town house on 54th Street. WWD (subscription required)

Paper Source picks up Papyrus stores

Gift and stationery retailer Paper Source is expanding its store fleet by 22 percent for only $525,000. The company, owned by Bahrain-based Investcorp Bank, has acquired 30 shuttered Papyrus store leases from a Delaware bankruptcy court. The move will expand Paper Source’s footprint to upwards of 165 stores. The deal gives the retailer more exposure in key markets like Manhattan. The first wave of conversions and rebrands are expected to open as early as this month. Papyrus filed for bankruptcy in February, announcing plans to close all of its 254 stores.

JCPenney rolls out curbside pickup to more stores

JCPenney says it will add curbside pickup services to 50 of its 850 U.S. stores. The service enables customers to pick up online orders without having to step out of their cars. Customers have given the program high marks for speed and convenience. “Curbside pickup is all about our customers and how they want to shop,” said Jim DePaul, executive vice president of stores. Curbside pickup will be available in California, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

Target makes stores more convenient

Target is investing in smaller, more-convenient stores this year. In 2019 the Minneapolis-based company’s small-format stores contributed upwards of $1 billion in total sales. Following the opening of Target’s 100th small-format store last year, 2020 stands to be the biggest year to date for the format, as the retailer will roll out nearly three dozen more. Throughout 2020 Target will also add drive-up service to dozens of small-format stores that have parking lots. Target will also explore sites for 6,000-square-foot stores, roughly half the size of its smallest. Such stores would reach more-urban neighborhoods, as well as college campuses. Target says it expects to sign the first 6,000-square-foot lease  this year and to open that store in 2021.

“Target is winning in the marketplace because of our differentiated investment strategy [and] durable financial model and our team’s incredible work in reinventing the Target run to deliver a shopping experience like nothing else in retail,” said Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell.

The big-box chain also remains on track for completion this year of the final 300 of about 1,000 store remodels nationwide. Sales have risen by an average of 2 to 4 percent per remodeled Target store in the first year and by an average of better than 2 percent in the second year.

HBC goes private to grow

HBC has successfully become a private company. The Canadian conglomerate, which operates 250 stores worldwide — including the Hudson’s Bay, Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5th brands — used proceeds from the sale of Hudson’s Bay retail and real estate holdings in Germany to buy and cancel almost all its common shares. That transaction values the company at about $1.9 billion. “As current and future generations change the way they live, shop and work, we are committed to transforming HBC to capitalize on these shifts,” said Richard Baker, HBC governor and executive chairman. “It will take patient capital and a long-term view to fully unleash HBC’s potential at the intersection of real estate and retail.” Baker will replace  former CEO Helena Foulkes while maintaining his current responsibilities.