Retail roundup: Express on Facebook, smaller Kohl’s stores, retail sales, Apple store at the Americana

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

-- Shoppers can now shop for Express clothing on the apparel chain’s Facebook page. The specialty retail company, which operates 591 stores, said its entire product catalog is available on Facebook, and customers can also ‘like’ their favorite pieces, add items to a wish list and purchase gift cards. Pricing is the same as on the company’s website.

‘Social commerce is the next step in our evolution as a retailer,’ Jim Wright, a company e-commerce executive, said in a statement. ‘We continue to look for ways that the customer can interact with the brand on their own schedule and at their convenience, so that we bring down as many barriers as possible.’

-- Kohl’s will be opening smaller-format stores in the coming months, company executives said. The announcement follows similar moves by Wal-Mart and Target, which are also focusing on downsizing their new locations as shoppers increasingly turn online to shop. Thirty of the 40 stores that Kohl’s is opening this year will be small format.

-- Retail sales rose 0.5% last month from March, the 10th straight month of increases, according to estimates by the Commerce Department.

-- The Americana at Brand will be getting an Apple store, mall owner Rick Caruso said. No details yet, but Apple confirms that it’s hiring for a store at the upscale open-air Glendale mall. The store is the latest addition to be announced for the Americana, which is undergoing a major expansion just three years after its grand opening. In March, Caruso said he had wooed Nordstrom away from the Glendale Galleria across the street and would be relocating it to his mall in fall 2013.

-- Andrea Chang