Top Story

• LaSalle Investment Management closes on Nashville retail center
  LaSalle Investment Management has closed on its acquisition of 100 Oaks retail center in Nashville, Tenn. The company has no major changes planned for the retail center other than to fill the 16,000 square feet of vacancy. American City Business Journals/Nashville, Tenn. (10/26)

	Retail Properties Available for Auction Online Properties include Shopping Centers, Restaurants, Supermarkets, Showrooms, Malls, and Units in metro plazas. View all retail properties available for auction. Featured Property: Metro Plaza in Phoenix, AZ. Starting Bid: $2,100,000 Starting Bid. 100.00% Occupancy. 40K+ SF, view more property details here.

Industry Tracker

• Dubai malls benefit from Eid shoppers' largesse
  A shopping marathon for the Eid Al Adha holiday kept many Dubai retailers open round the clock over the weekend, and merchants say sales were up over last year. "People were coming from not only Dubai but all over the region, Saudi Arabia and Oman," said Eisa Adam Ibrahim, general manager of the BurJuman luxury mall. The National (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) (10/29)

• SM Prime Holdings post 15% profit YTD
  SM Prime Holdings posted a nine-month net profit of 15% year over year. The growth was driven by new retail centers, same store sales and an improvement in China operations. The developer says it is confident it will reach its full year target, based on its nine month performance. Philippine Daily Inquirer (10/29)

• German property fund acquires retail center in Lodz for $504M
  German property fund manager Union Investment Real Estate GmbH is acquiring Manufaktura shopping center. The Lodz, Poland-based retail center is trading for $504 million, including debt. Bloomberg (10/29)

Retail News

• The bricks-versus-clicks battle heats up for the holidays
  Brick-and-mortar retail chains are finding more ways to fight back against online competitors, from price-matching guarantees to digital store upgrades to promotions touting the advantages omnichannel retailers offer. "Every possible way the customer wants to use the Internet — or their neighborhood store — to interact with Toys R Us is available," said Toys R Us CEO Jerry Storch. Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (10/28)

• 5 holiday shopping predictions to pay attention to: Consumers are expected to start holiday shopping earlier this year, thanks in part to expanded layaway programs from retailers looking to capture a more of the $586 billion in consumer spending. Americans are expected to spend 4.1% more on the holidays this year, according to an NRF survey. "In spite of the uncertainties that exist in our economy and among consumers, we believe we’ll see solid holiday sales growth this year,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. The Charlotte Observer (N.C.) (10/27)

• Monster storm bears down on Halloween sales: Some 170 million American consumers were set to spend about $8 billion in Halloween this year, according to NRF survey data gathered weeks before Hurricane Sandy became a threat. It's too early to know how badly the storm will impact Halloween sales, but it's likely that many in the East put off planned costume and candy purchases in favor of storm supplies, writes Forbes' contributor Laura Heller. Forbes (10/26)

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by ICSC SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Macerich buys two retail centers for $1.25 billion (CoStar Group)

• Why you need to toughen up to find your purpose (Harvard Business Review online)

• New apps to make your workday more productive (U.S. News & World Report)

• How Zara does fast fashion so fast (Forbes)

• GGP sells Baltimore center (The Baltimore Sun)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Finance & Economics

• REITs take in close to $11 billion for the first 9 months of 2012
  There has been $10.9 billion invested in REIT this year through Sept. 30, according to Morningstar. That tops what REIT funds took in for 2010 and 2011 combined. The Wall Street Journal/Intelligent Investor (10/26)

Business Best Practices

• Lee: Going global does not have to be difficult
  Going global does not have to be difficult for a company, even a small one, if it makes the proper preparations, according to Michael Lee, director of global marketing for Alibaba.com. He suggests that companies take advantage of the Web, find the right Web platform and pay attention to cultural differences, among other tips. BusinessNewsDaily.com (10/26)

SmartQuote

The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." --Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, mathematician and historian