Archive for October, 2007
October 29th, 2007
A visit to the new Peak Sports Club on Perryville Road can include a new haircolor or pedicure as well. High Maintenance Salon & Day Spa, which has served customers for six years on North Longwood in Rockford, has opened a second location inside the new Peak building.
The new salon will offer the same services as the original High Maintenance, including haircuts and coloring, waxing, manicures and pedicures. It will flank the sports club’s common area, but will have its own entrance as well for people who just want to get spa services without going through the gym. Clare Schwartz, owner of High Maintenance, said she’s been talking for years with Peak Fitness owner Mark Banz about the concept — and when he designed the new fitness club, he tailored the space with a salon in mind.Schwartz is bringing on a partner to help run the original downtown location: Luan Dean, owner of Lula’s Vintage Boutique on East State Street, also in downtown Rockford.
October 29th, 2007
Year after year the nation’s largest retailers jockey for their share of consumer dollars. And every year the National Retail Federation  reports the resulting rankings in its STORES Top 100 Retailers report, which you can access through a link found here. The report ranks the retailers by total revenue, and gives other information such as earnings and number of stores. It also provides mini-overviews of different market segments like booksellers, convenience stores and department stores.  Of course its top 10 players includes places we shop in the Rock River Valley – Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Sears Holdings (which owns Sears and Kmart), Walgreen and Lowe’s.
A separate National Retail Federation ranking, the Hot 100 Retailers list, lists the retail companies that reported the greatest year-over-year revenue percentage growth. (Only retailers with more than $100 million in yearly sales were considered for this list.) Its top 20 contenders include The Bon-Ton Stores (which owns Bergner’s); GameStop; Triarc (franchisor of the Arby’s restaurant system), Zumiez, Coldwater Creek, Charlotte Russe, Dress Barn, Panera Bread, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Buffalo Wild Wings, all of which have — or soon will have — locations in our area.
STORES is the official magazine of the National Retail Federation.
October 26th, 2007
“Nothing endures but change,” said Greek philosopher Heraclitus. That was a mere 2,500 years ago, but it’s more true than ever today, worldwide and in the Rock River Valley.  Especially when it comes to retail!  Every day there’s a store, restaurant or other retail business that is opening, closing, expanding, moving or changing in some other big way.
I’ll welcome your thoughts on the comings and goings mentioned here. And if you’ve caught wind of any other retail change, feel free to e-mail me at daustin@rrstar.com! I’ll check into it.
