Marketing

Duluth Trading Co. has hit a milestone of sorts.   The Belleville, Wisconsin-based clothing retailer has opened its 20th location, in Warwick, Rhode Island.    “Opening our 20th retail store in Warwick is a milestone for Duluth and it is also the fourth location in the eastern U.S. to serve our largest concentration of customers,” said Stephanie Pugliese, CEI Duluth Trading.   

Bankruptcies in the sporting goods sector is taking a toll on Under Armour, but the brand still managed to beat expectations in its first quarter.   

Starbucks Corp. met profit expectations for its second quarter even as its sales disappointed.     The retailer’s net earnings increased 13.5%, to $652.8 million, or 45 cents a share, in line with expectations. Revenue totaled $5.28 billion, less than expected.   Same-store sales rose 3%, also below forecasts, as average tickets rose 4%. Customer transactions were down 2%, which the company attributed to a change in its rewards program.  

Barnes & Noble has ended its quest for a new chief executive with an in-house promotion.   The struggling bookseller named Demos Parneros as CEO, effective immediately. Parneros, who has served as COO of Barnes & Noble since November 2016, is a longtime Staples veteran. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble, he was president of North American stores & online for the office supply giant.  

Amazon on Thursday posted its eight straight quarter of net profitability, fueled by growth in e-commerce sales and its lucrative cloud service platform, Amazon Web Services.   Amazon easily topped earning expectations for its first quarter, ended March 31, reporting $1.48 per share, above the $1.12 Wall Street expected. Net income rose to $724 million from $513 million in the year-ago period.  

Starbucks Coffee Company is going big in the Windy City — in a space that is currently to home to one of the city’s iconic retail flagships.    The coffee retailer will open a four-level, 43,000-sq.-ft. Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Michigan Avenue in Chicago in 2019, in the building currently occupied by Crate & Barrel. The home goods chain, which has operated a store on the site for 27 years, is expected to close its door in early 2018.   

Williams Company Southeast has announced plans to break ground on what it claims will be the biggest to be built in Central Florida for years.   Vineland Point, a 447,500-sq.-ft. project developed by O’Connor Capital Partners on I-4 and Daryl Carter Parkway in Orlando exceeds the size of The Crosslands, another O’Connor project constructed by Williams that opened in Kissimmee in 2015.  

The Aldo Group is making strides on its digital transformation journey.   The retailer has launched a new responsive website and e-commerce platform that will integrate retail online, in-store and mobile channels. The move comes as Aldo transitions leadership, with company founder Aldo Bensadoun naming his son, David Bensadoun, as the new CEO earlier this month.