Though the rumors that Lampert is looking for a buyer are for now “unsubstantiated,” the move would make sense given Sears Holdings’ long-term struggles, its intention to close up to 120 stores and retail industry insiders’ skeptical outlook on Sears’ future.

The question now is who would be interested in buying the bottom rung player in the crowded department store space? Whoever buys Sears would likely do so for the value of its real estate rather than for the value of its retail brand, given that the company owns properties in many of the nation’s oldest and best malls.

Thomson Reuters estimates that same-store sales rose 4.2 percent for the month, much higher than expected, according to The Wall Street Journal. Target, Kohl’s and Saks Fifth Avenue surprised analysts with strong results, while specialty retailers including the Gap and Wet Seals reported sales declines.

Thomson Reuters surveyed a total of 20 chain.

According to ICSC, same-store sales rose 4.8 percent in January, driven primarily by wholesale clubs, luxury stores and discounters. Costco, for example, reported growth of 8 percent, Saks of 10.5 percent and TJX of 7 percent.

Kantar Retail, a Columbus, Ohio-based retail consulting firm, estimates growth of 4.9 percent, based on results from 21 retailers. Particularly heartening is the fact that the gain occured in spite of unseasonably warm weather and tough year-over-year comparisons, according to Kantar’s researchers.

“Whether January’s growth can be sustained may depend on whether shoppers’ spending intentions show more signs of stalling out in the months ahead. That underlying trend appears to be overwhelmed at the moment by the mixed retail and economic reports,” said Frank Badillo, Senior Economist.

Last week, the company signed a confidentiality agreement with Sycamore that will allow the private equity firm access to Talbots’ financial information.

Initially, Sycamore offered $3 per share for the struggling chain. Many retail industry insiders say the price is more than fair, even though Talbots’ management expressed the view that it significantly undervalues the company.

At a much-publicized media event this afternoon, Johnson announced that JC Penney would do away with its confusing discounting strategy and will re-design the chain’s stores to resemble a Main Street experience, with anywhere from 80 to 100 stores-within-a-store for customers to choose from.

According to Johnson, during 2011, JC Penney ran 590 different promotions, which were largely ignored by shoppers:

“At some point, you, as a brand, look desperate if you have to market that much.” He will move to monthlong promotions, on which Penney will spend $80 million a month, he said. And instead of mailed fliers, the company will have a 96-page magazinelike circular.

From now on, instead of marketing items as “x percent off full price,” JC Penney will sell merchandise using only three price levels: regular price, month-long value and best price, which will be offered on the first and third Fridays of every month for merchandise that hasn’t cleared at regular or month-long value prices.

In addition, the retailer will vastly expand its store-within-a-store program, with brands including Martha Stewart and l’amour nanette lepore. For full details on the overhaul, click here.

The chain will now bring the new menu to up to seven Starbucks cafes in Chicago, and to four to six stores in Atlanta and Southern California each.

In addition to offering alcoholic beverages tailored to local tastes and snacks such as food and cheese plates and foccacia with olive oil, the cafes will feature flexible seating to encourage evening parties and social gatherings.

Over the past few years, Starbucks has faced increasing competition for coffee dollars from Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds, so the chain has been putting a lot of effort into reinventing its image.

The five Macy’s stores slated for closing are located in the middle of the country, including Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee and Kansas. In their stead, Macy’s will open five new namesake stores in New York, California, Illinois, Utah and Wisconsin.

The five Bloomingdale’s stores scheduled for closing are located in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland and Minnesota. Macy’s has already announced the opening of a new Bloomingdale’s at Glendale Galleria in California and will build a smaller format replacement store for a store in Palo Alto, Calif.

Macy’s will also open five Bloomingdale’s Outlet stores in 2012.

All of the closings will take place in early spring.

The CRE Review has published a breakdown of CMBS exposure to the properties housing the ill-fated stores.

Check out the entire list below:

Even though the 2011 holiday season has delivered decent results for many other retailers, Sears has been struggling with unimpressive sales results and waning brand appeal for years. Even in recent months, Sears’ management has been focusing more on subleasing unprofitable stores and cutting expenses than on turning around the retailer’s core operations. So it will come as no surprise to anyone in the retail universe that Sears Holdings will be closing stores.

The more interesting question will be how much interest those stores will garner from alternate space users. By all accounts, Sears stores tend to be in some of the best locations in the country since the department store has served as a staple mall anchor for so long. Meanwhile, many expanding retailers have complained recently that they can’t find good enough real estate for new stores.

Given where we are in the real estate cycle, how much interest do you think those newly vacant Sears stores will attract and which chains are likely to end up snapping them up?

According to the report, there will be fewer retail bankruptcies in 2012 than there were in 2011 and the national vacancy rate will go down. But many of the retailers that propelled the sector’s growth in the past few years, including chains like TJ Maxx, Marshall’s and Ross Dress For Less, might slow down expansion next year. Most of the growth will come from the dollar stores, fast food restaurants and fast casual chains.

The report’s authors caution that:

Looking forward, we continue to have strong concerns over mid-priced retail chains.

Chains caught in the middle will be where the most contraction occurs and though we don’t expect retail closures to approach last year’s levels, they will continue to mitigate growth across the board. Vacancy will shrink in 2012, but it will be at a slow pace, measured more by basis points than by percentage points.

According to a post on Merchandising Services Blog, today there are approximately 21,500 dollar stores operating around the country, while national drugstores number 19,700 locations. Family Dollar, with 6,800 stores, and 99c Only Stores, with 285 units, would seem to pose the biggest threat to the drugstores as they generally take locations in urban environments, the drugstores’ most established turf.

Dollar General, on the other hand, prefers rural communities with fewer than 20,000 residents. The strategy often allows the chain to be the only necessity retailer in the area, eliminating the need to nab the best piece of real estate and pay top dollar to open new stores.

The last of the four major national chains, Dollar Tree, focuses on the suburbs.

Regardless of where the dollar stores are based, landlords love them. In addition to bringing in steady foot traffic, they willingly go into second, third and fourth generation spaces and have limited need for tenant allowances because of their modest buildouts. The Colliers report notes that the dollar stores have been able to close very aggressive deals, commanding some of the lowest retail rents around:

This is occuring even in markets where landlords, especially those with better-performing centers, are beginning to see some pricing power return to them. Depending on the chain, base rents can run as low as the high single digits for a 10-year term. Rent step-ups are rare during the first five years; tenants will consider a 10% bump (2% per year), beginning in year six, for the balance of the term.