Retail Briefs

Federated Department Stores will sell 10 mall units to Boscov's and 15 mall stores to The Westfield Group, a real estate developer. Both transactions involve duplicate locations stemming from the May Co. acquisition.

The $27 billion retailer will sell (for undisclosed terms) five Strawbridge's, three Macy's and two Kaufmann's in the mid-Atlantic region to 40-unit Boscov's. To Westfield, Federated will make a tax-deferred like kind exchange of 12 stores for 12 former May properties now leased by Westfield to Federated. It will sell the other three stores to the developer for $18.5 million cash.

Pier 1 Imports had no comment last week on reports that the $1.9 billion retailer has hired a recruiter to seek new top executives. Meanwhile the company's $160 million debt offering, seen in part as a tactic to ward off any potential takeover by an outside investor, was concluded in a private placement on February 14.

Danish investor Jakup a Dul Jacobsen recently acquired about 9.9% of the outstanding common stock shares of Pier 1. The buy was at a price of about $93 million, made through Jacobsen's affiliation with two Reykjavik, Iceland-based entities, Kaupthing Bank and his wholly-owned company Lagerinn.

Ikea will build its first Florida store in Sunrise, with an opening slated for summer 2007. The 20-acre site, dubbed Gateway at Sawgrass, will accommodate a 293,000-square-foot store, to be set adjacent to 40,000 square feet of other retail space being developed by the same company, Stiles Corp.

There are more than 225 Ikea stores worldwide, including 26 in the U.S. Other U.S. stores are being planned in: Brooklyn, N.Y.; Canton, Mich.; Draper, Utah; Dublin, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Round Rock, Texas; Somerville, Mass.; and West Sacramento, Calif.