Amazon
Amazon.com had cited plans to open 56 Go stores by the end of this year and 156 by the end of next year, but has so far announced only 18. Of those, only 15 are currently open to the public, and they are restricted to Chicago, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle. Observers say the company could be having trouble finding real estate or else may be reconsidering the concept. The Verge

Everlane
Fashion-apparel brand Everlane opened a 4,400-square-foot store in Brooklyn, N.Y. That is twice the size of its flagship store in Manhattan. Dezeen

Fred’s
Discount chain Fred's has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and says it will close all its 568 stores. Those units measure about 15,000 square feet, on average, and they carry brand-name and off-brand goods. USA Today

Fry’s Food Stores
In October this regional supermarket chain will open a 67,000-square-foot, full-service store in downtown Phoenix, at the base of Block 23, a mixed-use property that is still under construction. Phoenix New Times

GameStop
The video-game chain reported a same-store sales decrease of 11.6 percent in the second quarter, which it attributes to the preference of consumers to download games off the Internet. The company says it aims to reverse that trend by making its stores social and cultural hubs for the gaming experience. Reuters

JCPenney
JCPenney says it will add outdoor shops selling apparel and excursion gear to 100 of its roughly 830 department stores next month. CNBC

Neighborhood Goods
Department store Neighborhood Goods, which sublets space to a range of brands within its store in Plano, Texas, says it now has some $11 million in investor funds to open a second store, in Austin, Texas, in 2020. CNBC

Nordstrom
Seattle-based Nordstrom opened its first Nordstrom Local store, in New York City, an 1,800-square-foot unit on the Upper East Side. A second, 2,200-square-foot Nordstrom Local is to open later this month in the city's West Village neighborhood. The department-store chain says the concept is a convenient service hub in neighborhoods where Nordstrom customers live and work. Nordstrom Local provides order pickups, returns, alterations, stylists for wardrobe consulting, gift-wrapping and other services. The company says these stores will help support its 320,000-square-foot New York City flagship, which opens Oct. 24. WWD

Stew Leonard’s
The Norwalk, Conn.–based regional supermarket chain will open its first New Jersey grocery outpost, at the Paramus Park Mall, next week, in the center’s former Sears anchor. The 80,000-square-foot store will offer chef-prepared foods, butchers, sushi, barbecue, an Asian wok, hot and cold buffet and more, along with Stew Leonard’s interactive animatronic characters that perform shows to entertain families while shopping. Winsight Grocery Business

Target
The retailer says it will hire 130,000 employees for the coming holiday season, an increase of 8 percent over last year's season, when its holiday hiring was up, in turn, by 20 percent. Reuters