International Business

San Francisco -- Gap has opened its first Banana Republic store in Russia, in Moscow's AfiMall City. In related news, the company will open its first Gap store in Belgrade, Serbia, on Friday.

“We are very proud to not only be introducing Banana Republic to Russia, but also opening our 200th franchise store,” said Stephen Sunnucks, president, international, Gap. “This is a significant landmark for our goal of growing our franchise store base to 400 by 2014.”

MOSCOW — Gap Inc. announced that it has opened its first Banana Republic store in Russia through its franchise channel. The company also announced that it will open its first Gap store in Serbia on Friday. This store will represent the company’s 200th franchise store globally.

Gloucester, Mass. -- TradeStone Software announced that Family Dollar Stores has gone live with TradeStone's Collaborative Sourcing and Supplier Community Management solutions. The implementation was done in only 100 days.

“In my years at Family Dollar, I don't know of an application that's been up as fast as we got TradeStone up and running," said Scott Zucker, VP IT solutions, Family Dollar Stores, Matthews, N.C.

Walmart's U.K. subsidiary Asda announced that it has mobilized its grocery site to enable shoppung from a smartphone. 

According to Asda, the new mobile-optimised site offers all of the features on the main Asda.com grocery website – meaning customers can register, shop and amend an existing order or delivery slot up until 10 p.m. the day before their delivery is due.

The new mobile optimised site also includes a mobile store locator, offering maps and directions so customers can find their nearest Asda when they are out and about, the company reported.

San Diego -- PriceSmart's same-store sales rose 17.7% in August. Total revenue for the five weeks ended Sept. 4 climbed 21.5% to $148.3 million.

PriceSmart also announced that on August 19, 2011 opened its first warehouse club in Colombia. This warehouse club, located in Barranquilla, brings to 29 the total number of warehouse clubs in operation by the company.

PriceSmart, based in San Diego, had 29 warehouse clubs at August's end. The company runs membership warehouse clubs in Central America and the Caribbean.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — eBay has announced that Devin Wenig is joining the company as president of its global eBay Marketplaces business unit, which includes eBay, the world’s leading online marketplace; eBay classifieds sites in more than 1,000 cities worldwide; and StubHub, the world’s largest online tickets marketplace. Wenig will report to eBay Inc. president and CEO John Donahoe.

Washington, D.C. -- Grosvenor Americas said Wednesday it has appointed Jonathan E. Carr to the position of development manager in the company’s Washington, D.C., office. He previously held the same title in Grosvenor Americas’ San Francisco office.

The company also announced that Michael Ward has been appointed to the position of VP in the company’s Calgary office. He previously served as VP for Grosvenor Americas in Washington, D.C.
 

New York — Starbucks plans to triple the number of outlets it has in China during the next four years, the Associated Press reported.

The company expects to increase the number of shops in China from 470 now to 1,500 by 2015, Asia-Pacific President Wang Jinlong said on Tuesday.

Starbucks also plans to open 700 shops in South Korea by 2016, up from 370 now, the report said.