Marketing

Texas and the Carolinas drove the strongest sales at Stein Mart in September, while California, Arizona and the Northeast performed lower than the chain.

The company reported total sales for the five-week period ended Oct. 4 of $119.4 million, a 6.5% increase over total sales of $112.2 million for the prior-year period. Comparable store sales increased 4.9%.

Year-to-date total sales increased 3.1% to $832.9 million from $807.8 million for the prior-year period. Comparable store sales increased 2.4%.

New York -- Apparel retailers reported modest sales growth for the month of September, fueled by back-to-school spending early in the month.

Coty has submitted a binding offer to acquire the Bourjois cosmetics brand from Chanel for 15 million Class A Coty shares. Chanel has agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations.

Bourjois’ portfolio of color cosmetic products are sold through approximately 23,000 points of sale in more than 50 countries around the world. Bourjois was founded in 1863, by French actor Joseph-Albert Ponsin, who developed a line of color cosmetics for his fellow actors.

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. announced that its chairman and CEO, Glen Murphy, will step down, effective February 1, 2015. He will be succeeded by Art Peck, the president of the company’s growth, innovation and digital division.

Murphy and Peck have worked side-by-side for the better part of a decade as Gap dramatically improved its financial performance while expanding globally, the company said.

Atlantic Natural Foods has acquired the Loma Linda brand of canned shelf stable alternative meat analog products. ANF will also license the Worthington Foods brand and will transition these products to the Loma Linda brand in the near future. Both brands were previously marketed solely by Kellogg Company.

Atlantic Natural Foods has been the sole producer of these products since 2008. In addition, ANF also purchased Kellogg Company’s Kaffree Roma alternative coffee beverage unit.

Dublin, California -- Ross Dress for Less will open a new store in the Ridgewood Court Shopping Center, in the capital city of Jackson, Mississippi, on Oct. 11. It is the retailer’s second location in the greater Jackson area.

This new opening is part of the retailer’s 2014 expansion program, totaling approximately 75 new locations during the year.  

Together, Ross Dress for Less and dd’s Discounts currently operate over 1,300 off-price apparel and home fashion stores in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Guam.

Retailers have had a tough year when it comes to advertising prices. In January, a California court issued a multimillion dollar penalty against Overstock.com, after determining that the company advertised discounts in a misleading manner. Since then, retailers across a range of industries have been dragged into costly lawsuits and regulatory investigations involving similar issues. If you’re wondering how something as mundane as advertising the price of an item could lead to so much trouble it’s because the issue is more complicated than most people think.

Hasbro has signed a global licensing agreement with Pez International to develop a My Little Pony-branded line of Pez dispensers, Pez dextrose fizzy candy and fizzy rolls.

Hasbro will begin rolling out the new line beginning in early 2015 in Germany, France and Austria followed by additional markets worldwide. The new dispensers and candy will be on display at Hasbro Booth #D020 at Brand Licensing Europe in Olympia, London, October 7-9.