Retail Roundup: Bankrupt Circuit City to Break 154 More Leases, Proposed Luxury Tax Could Pain NY Retailers, More

(MoneyWatch)  Bankrupt Circuit City to break 154 more leases -- Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc. announced Dec. 17 that it plans to break the leases for 154 of the 155 stores it's closing this month. The company was scheduled to auction the leases on Dec. 18 as part of its Chapter 11 proceedings, but too few bids came in to hold the auction. The chain will now break a total of 304 leases, including 150 it received approval to break for already-shuttered locations. The company had originally hoped to sell the leases to reduce its costs and aid in its restructuring; the leases had an average of about 10 years remaining. [Source: businessweek]

Proposed luxury tax could hurt Tiffany & Co., others -- New York Gov. David Paterson's proposed 2009-10 budget, announced Dec. 16, includes plans to increase the sales tax on luxuries and add new state and local sales taxes on music, movie, and game downloads. The plan could sting companies like Tiffany's, the luxury jewelery that generates 10 percent of its total sales at its flagship store in Manhattan. [Source: Forbes]

Shoppers increasingly visiting retailers' Web sites before going to stores -- Even consumers opting to make their purchases at brick-and-mortar stores rather than online are using the Web to read customer reviews, check out retailers' offerings, and more. Half of online consumers are visiting retailers' sites before going into their actual stores, according to a recent survey by Nielsen Online, which also discovered that 81 percent of online shoppers have read reviews by other consumers about a product or retailer while doing their holiday shopping. "Retailers should consider the online contribution to store sales, in addition to online sales, when evaluating how well the season went," said Ken Cassar, vice president of industry insights at Nielsen Online. [Source: internetretailer]

Bill Blass closing -- The Bill Blass Couture label worn by high-profile fans such as Nancy Reagan will soon be no more. Blass president Craig Hoffman confirmed that the company is discontinuing the couture label and letting go of 80 percent of the 34-member staff on Dec. 19. Those remaining will service customers who placed orders prior to the closure. The brand has been on shaky ground since parent company NexCen Brands Inc. put the company on sale earlier this year. "It's difficult to run a couture, luxury brand when there's an event like a sale process hanging over it," said Hoffman. "It injects uncertainty into everyone's mind because if they don't know who it's going to be sold to, it's hard for retailers to commit to a brand." [Source: Heard on the Runway]