Finance & Capital Management

Las Vegas -- MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren said Wednesday that the company is considering selling parts of its $8.5 billion CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip, including the Crystals Mall.

The sell-off would be a move to reduce CityCenter’s $1.85 billion in debt, which has been paid down from $2.5 billion last year.

CityCenter also houses the 4,000 Arai hotel casino which, said Mullen, is not part of any potential sale.

New York -- Foot Locker announced Wednesday that it has appointed Maxine Clarke, recently retired Build-A-Bear Workshop CEO, as a member of its board of directors.

Clark has also served as president of Payless ShoeSource, and spent 19 years as an executive with May Department Stores Co.

Georgetown, Texas -- Sport Clips Haircuts announced Wednesday that it will open its first store in Canada on March 1.

The Burlington, Ontario, franchised location is the first of three planned for the city by master franchisor Sport Clips Canada.
 
In addition to Burlington, Sport Clips Canada currently has 26 stores under contract to open throughout Ontario and British Columbia. Sport Clips Canada said it plans to open 50 stores within the next three years, 100 stores in five years and 200 stores in 10 years.

New York -- Britain’s Topshop is planning on increasing its U.S. presence. The fashion chain plans to open 10 additional stores in the United Stores over the next two years, according to the New York Daily News.
   
There are currently four U.S. Topshop stores, with the most recent being a flagship at The Grove in Los Angeles. The 25,000-sq.-ft. store carries the retailer's full range, including its Topman brand for men.

Miami Beach, Fla. -- Electric vehicle charging company Car Charging Group said Wednesday that former Wal-Mart Stores president and CEO Bill Fields has been appointed to its board of directors.

Retail veteran Fields has also led Blockbuster Entertainment Group as its chairman and CEO and also served in the same capacity at Hudson’s Bay Co.

New York -- As shares of his company reached an all-time high, fashion designer and retailer Michael Kors will sell 3 million of his shares as part of a secondary offering of 25 million shares, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing.

Kors' ownership in Michael Kors Holdings Inc. will fall to about 4.8 million shares, or 2.4%, down from 3.9% after the sale.

New York -- OfficeMax Inc. and Office Depot have formally announced an agreement under which the two companies would combine in an all-stock merger that would transform the office supply sector of retail. The merger, which creates a single company with nearly $18 billion in revenue, was unanimously approved by the board of directors of both chains.

RESTON, Va. — In terms of growth, clicks continued to outpace bricks in 2012 — and how!

That was the key takeaway from comScore’s “2013 U.S. Digital Future in Focus” report: Despite the backdrop of continued economic uncertainty, 2012 was a strong year for retail e-commerce. Throughout the year, growth rates versus the prior year remained in the mid-teens to outpace growth at brick-and-mortar retail by a factor of approximately four times.

CHICAGO — Fashion jewelry retailer Claire's Stores said that it expects to report a 13.4% spike in net sales to $493 million for the fourth quarter over the same period last year, thanks in part to an additional week of net sales and a comparable-store sales increase of 5.4%.

For the full year, Claire's expects to report net sales of $1.6 billion for fiscal 2012, an increase of 4.1%, compared with fiscal 2011.  

Consolidated same-store sales increased 1.8% for the fiscal year.

PORT WASHINGTON — Despite a plethora of constantly changing products, the consumer technology industry saw its sales decline 2% in 2012, according to The NPD Group. This is on top of the less than 1% drop in 2011. Since 2010, consumer technology sales have declined by $4 billion.