Retailers

Apple's retail store design has been granted a trademark from the U.S. government, giving the company some protection from copycat retailers. The Cupertino, Calif., company's "clear glass storefront" design, complete with "large, rectangular horizontal panels over the top of the glass front," received trademark status last week from the U.S Patent and Trademark office.  The trademark covers the store's interior furniture and fixtures as...

99 Cents Only Stores Inc. said its family management team has left the deep discounter, one year after the family-run business was acquired. Los Angeles private equity firm Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought the retailer in a deal that closed in January 2012 and took the firm private. When the chain announced the deal, valued at about $1.6 billion, it said the family management team would remain in place. But the City of Commerce company said this week that Chief Executive Eric Schiffer, Chief Administrative Officer Jeff Gold and Executive Vice President of Special Projects Howard Gold "are no longer employed by the company.

It has been more than a decade since Target launched its first designer collaboration, sparking a seemingly endless number of imitators. The pairings lure customers with the promise of designer looks at mass market prices, while the designers and retailers leverage the power of two brand names into often lucrative business endeavors. And although a few of last year's efforts fell a bit flat - Neiman Marcus and Target's highly touted holiday collection went on mark-down after only three weeks, for instance - pairings are still going strong.

Economic prognosticators spent the end of 2012 fretting about looming spending cuts and toxic tax increases. Consumers, however, spent it shopping. Retail sales across the nation rose 0.5% to $415.7 billion in December as Americans put fiscal cliff worries on the back burner and went on holiday buying sprees, according to the Commerce Department. The increase was the second since November's 0.4% bump. “The fiscal cliff debate weakened confidence more than it weakened actual spending as December sales finished the year in decent fashion,” Credit Suisse analysts wrote in a report Tuesday.

Apple's retail division has taken another hit with the resignation of a top executive once thought to be a candidate to head the unit. First reported by tech site AllThingsD,  Apple confirmed that Jerry McDougal, vice president of retail, had resigned this month. AllThingsD said sources had said McDougal left because he " wanted to spend more time with his family. " QUIZ: Test your Apple knowledge The retail division, which oversees Apple's stores, has been a pillar of the company's phenomenal success over the last decade.

Consumers looking to purchase a new Nissan Leaf could find themselves saving some green this year. The 2013 Leaf will retail for $6,000 less than the previous model, the company announced Monday at the Detroit auto show. The S-series, Nissan's newest model in a line of battery-powered all-electric vehicles, will cost $28,800. In California, the $7,500 federal electric-vehicle tax credit and a $2,500 state rebate could drop the price as low as $18,800. The new models will go on sale in February.

If there were a social hierarchy for independent boutiques in the proverbial school lunchroom that is L.A., the cool kids would likely sit on West 3rd Street - and not just for close proximity to the Chinese chicken salad at Joan's on Third. Though stores from Abbot Kinney to Echo Park may be equally shoppable, the West 3rd shopping district between Fairfax and La Cienega boasts untouchables such as Satine and Milk that have long set the standard for respected West Coast style, emitting a vibe at once hipster, California-relaxed and refined (nothing macrame here unless it's Isabel Marant; nothing studded unless it's Alexander Wang)

Work has begun on a $30-million apartment and retail complex in Palms near a planned station for the Expo Line that will connect downtown Los Angeles with Santa Monica. Frost/Chaddock Developers of Los Angeles is building the five-story complex at 3425 Motor Ave., about a quarter mile from a light rail station at Motor and National Boulevard set to open in 2016. The 115-unit project will house studio and one-bedroom apartments intended to appeal to young professionals. "We believe the project will encourage pedestrian activity along Motor Avenue," said James Frost, a principal at Frost/Chaddock.

Suffering from brand fatigue? Too many product labels screaming for your attention? One major department store is going hush-hush, stripping famous items of their logos and implementing a silence room and meditation spaces for shoppers. British department store Selfridges - think of it as London's version of Bloomingdales in New York - is rolling out its “No Noise” campaign , which it calls “an initiative that goes beyond retail.” “As we become increasingly bombarded with information and stimulation, the world is becoming a noisier place,” Selfridges' website states.

Retail giant Target Corp. said it is extending price-matching with select online retailers beyond the holidays into a year-round policy. The Minneapolis company said shoppers can now request price matches anytime on identical items found at some big Web merchants, including Amazon.com and the online sites of Toys R Us, Best Buy and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Also surviving beyond the holidays: the retailer's pledge to match in-store prices with those...