Marketing

Fewer shoppers were in the mood to buy containers last fall, as the Container Store blamed its third quarter performance on lower customer traffic.

The company said same-store sales declined 3.5% in the third quarter that ended Nov. 29.

“We were not satisfied with our comparable-store sales and are working to fix it. Traffic has been the culprit, as the average customer transaction was up 2%,” Container Store Group CEO Kip Tindell said.

But, Tindell added, traffic turned positive in the fourth quarter.

San Francisco – Gap Inc. should be happy to greet this year’s holiday season, based on its performance in the just-concluded 2014 holiday season. Net sales for the November and December 2014 holiday shopping season were up 4% and same-store sales were up 3%, compared with the previous year.

New York -- Bloomingdale’s is celebrating the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) 64th NBA All-Star Game in a big way with 16 basketball-inspired in-store pop-up shops filled with NBA team and All-Star merchandise.

Los Angeles -- Fast-casual pizza franchise PizzaRev kicks off 2015 with the opening of the chain’s 20th location in just over two years. The new restaurant will open in La Habra, California, one of eight locations scheduled to open in first-quarter 2015. The upcoming expansion will include entrance into four new markets: Bakersfield, San Diego and Santa Barbara in California, as well as Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Surging sales at Old Navy helped parent company Gap Inc. post an increase in same store sales for November and December.

Gap’s same store sales for the November and December holiday shopping season increased 3%.

For December alone, the figure rose 1%, slightly above Wall Street estimates for a 0.7% increase, according to Thomson Reuters.

Houston – Francesca’s Holding Corp. is still feeling the warmth of the holidays. The retailer is increasing its guidance for fourth quarter sales to between $103 million and $105 million, including a low-single-digit decrease in same-store sales.

The National Retail Federation’s Big Show 2015 is a prime opportunity to demo the latest tech advancements from leading retail solution providers. The Oracle Retail team will be onsite with a small army of product experts, partners and customers to showcase its new 14.1 innovations, combined with powerful new functionality through the acquisition of MICROS.

Atlanta --  The Shopping Center Group announced its continued expansion with the addition of a California brokerage team of industry veterans. The move across the Mississippi River marks the firm’s first foray into western United States. Located in Santa Barbara, the new office opened Dec. 1.

“The acquisition of this team is a big step in The Shopping Center Group’s pursuit of a national footprint," said chairman and Co-CEO David Birnbrey.