International Business

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Cafe continues to expand as it moves forward on its goal to more than double its U.S. footprint in the next three to four years. The company announced plans to expand in several areas, including Northeast Florida, Tampa, and San Diego.

Corner Bakery Cafe said it will open as many as ten new restaurants in Northeast Florida as part of a new multi-unit restaurant franchise agreement with Lee-Wesley Group. These will be the first Corner Bakery Cafes in the Northeast Florida area.

New York -- Hedge fund manager Richard Perry has upped his already substantial share in J.C. Penney Co. Perry’s Perry Capitol LLC now ranks as Penney's second-largest investor after George Soros.
    
It was disclosed on Friday that Perry bought an additional three million shares of Penney in a secondary offering for $12.90 a share, and that it now owns 8.62% of the company, up from its previous 7.3% stake.
      

New York -- Uniqlo will open 10 U.S. mall stores in October and November, giving it a total of 17 U.S. locations. The new stores are strategically placed surrounding the brand’s current flagship stores on the East and West Coasts (see below for schedule).

To support its retail expansion, Uniqlo will debut a new, more interactive website this fall.  

Uniqlo will open four stores in California, three in New York, two in New Jersey and one in Connecticut. Here is the schedule:  

New Jersey

Benicia, Calif. — Cycle Gear Inc. has announced the chain’s first Wisconsin store in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee. With this new location, Cycle Gear now operates more than 100 stores in 29 states.

The Brookfield store is now open now and will have a grand opening celebration from Sept. 13 to Sept. 15 featuring sales and vendor appearances.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. will open its first franchise-operated Old Navy stores in the Philippines in 2014. Earlier this year, the company announced that it would begin franchising Old Navy stores internationally.

Gap will partner with Stores Specialists, which operates Gap brand and Banana Republic stores in-market, to open two Old Navy locations in the beginning of 2014 with plans to open additional stores by the end of the same fiscal year.

Internet services company Rakuten has acquired the global video streaming platform known as Viki as it looks to advance its digital content offerings and extend Internet services to new markets.

New York -- Yankee Candle has agreed to be acquired by global consumer products company Jarden Corp. for $1.75 billion in cash from its private equity owner Madison Dearborn Partners. Yankee Candle, based in South Deerfield, Mass., operates about 575 stores in the United States and Canada.

Madison Dearborn bought Yankee Candle in 2007 for $1.4 billion cash and the assumption of $300 million in debt.

Hamilton, Bermuda -- Signet Jewelers Ltd.’s net income fell to $67.4 million for the quarter ended Aug. 3, down from $70.7 million a year earlier, impacted by the Mother’s Day calendar shift.  

Total sales increased 3.1% to $880.2 million, fueled by strong sales at the company’s Kay Jewelers and Jared stores in the United States. Sales were soft at its British chains.

Same-store sales were up 3.6%. At Kay, same-store sales rose 5.8%.