Retail Roundup: Sears, Chanel, Martha Stewart

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-- Struggling department store giant Sears Holdings Corp. is leasing spaces inside its stores to other companies. Last year, Sears leased about 15% of its store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa to fast-fashion chain Forever 21. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, the company has recently signed contracts with Western Athletic Clubs for space in a Sears store in Cupertino, Calif., and with a Gonzalez Grocery Store for space in a San Diego Kmart. All told, nearly 4,000 Sears and Kmart stores have space available for lease.

-- Chanel has filed a federal cyberpiracy and trademark infringement lawsuit in Nevada against 399 websites that it is accusing of selling fakes. The suit seeks unspecified damages from unnamed operators of websites that Chanel says operate from China, the Bahamas and overseas jurisdictions. The lawsuit alleges that the sites use Chanel-sounding names and keyword optimization tools to increase their placement in search engine lists.

-- Design maven Martha Stewart is teaming up with Avery Dennison to release a line of office products exclusively at Staples. The line, which will feature 300 items, will debut early next year at more than 1,500 U.S. stores and 330 Canadian stores. The products will also be available online.

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-- Andrea Chang