Finance & Capital Management

The CEOs of Staples and Office Depot penned a letter to customers which reveals the extent of their deteriorated relations with the Federal Trade Commission ahead of a hearing that begins March 21 that will determine whether the retailers are allowed to merge.

In the letter, Staples chairman and CEO Ron Sargent and Office Depot chairman and CEO Roland Smith stop short of actually calling the FTC stupid, but that is the inference from more diplomatically worded prose.

Specialty apparel retailer New York & Company plans to convert even more of its nearly 500 stores to an outlet format following a strong finish to the year.

PizzaRev, a fast-casual pizza concept backed by Buffalo Wild Wings, announced its first locations in New York.

New York is one of five new states that PizzaRev will enter this year, including Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, and Tennessee. The company will also make its international debut in Mexico shortly after opening in New York. There are currently more than 150 additional PizzaRev restaurants in various stages of development across the United States and Mexico.

Gordmans Stores plans to open a new store next month in its hometown of Omaha in April, the first of five new units the apparel and home décor retailer has planned for the year.

March promises to be a busy month for Shopko.

The retailer will open 10 Shopko Hometown stores in late March, bringing its total number of stores opened this year so far to 12.

The company plans to continue to accelerate the expansion of its Hometown format with additional locations through 2017. Developed over the past five years to augment Shopko’s larger store model, the concept is focused on serving the needs of smaller rural communities. Stores average 15,000 sq. ft. to 35,000 sq. ft.

Ulta Beauty is on fire — offline and on.

The specialty beauty retailer plans to open 100 new stores in 2016 while also pursuing new merchandising initiative to enhance the productivity of existing locations.

Ross Dress for Less opened a new store North El Centro, California on March 5. The opening is part of the retailer’s 2016 expansion program, totaling about 70 new locations during the year.

The 26,000- sq.-ft. store is located at Centro Commons, 11 miles north of the California-Mexico border, at the intersection of Imperial Avenue and Cruickshank Drive. With this location, Ross operates 277 stores in California, its largest state.

New store expansion and expectations for same-store sales growth are in store for Michaels Companies in 2016, according to CEO Chuck Rubin.

Rubin sounded an optimistic tone about Michaels’ future following the release of fourth quarter results he characterized as “strong” and attributed to an improved shopping experience, increased customer communications and trend right holiday assortments.