Marketing

Photo: Jack Ma and Howard Schultz, China Partner Family Forum

Healthy checklanes free of bad-for-you impulse items are coming to nearly all Aldi stores by year end, and that’s just the beginning of the retailer’s stepped up commitment to offering healthier options at its expanding network of 1,500 stores.

Aldi isn’t shooting itself in the foot and getting rid of all impulse items from its checklanes, but rather re-merchandising select checkout lanes to feature healthier options such as single serving of nuts, trail mixes, dried fruits and granola bars.

Warm weather, as well as layoffs in the oil and gas industry hindered sales Boot Barn during the holiday quarter.

Boot Barn announced preliminary results for the third quarter ended Dec. 26 as follows:

• Preliminary net sales increased 49% to approximately $194 million;

• Opened 5 new stores and completed the rebranding of 19 Sheplers stores;

New York & Co. was able to rise above headwinds from unseasonable weather during the holidays to an increase in same-store sales.

The company says same store sales increased 1.6% during the holiday period and that it expects same-store sales for the full quarter to increase in the low single-digit percentage, in line with the company’s previously disclosed guidance.

After years of hard work and success, Amazon.com has finally gained admittance to an elite Ivy League campus.

Amazon plans to open Amazon@Penn, a new staffed package pickup point to be opened on the University of Pennsylvania campus. The first such facility at an Ivy League university, Amazon@Penn will offer a location for Penn students to pick up and return their Amazon orders.

Miami -- Taubman Centers announced that it has decided not to move forward with an enclosed regional mall that was slated to be part of the Miami Worldcenter mixed-use, urban development in Miami. Instead, Taubman, in conjunction with The Forbes Company and Miami Worldcenter’s master developer, Miami Worldcenter Associates, is now pursuing a high street retail plan that will better utilize the unique characteristics of the site and the market.

Sportsman’s Warehouse is expanding its operations.

The company will open three new stores, with locations in Prescott, Arizona; Rock Springs, Wyoming; and Gillette, Wyoming. The stores, which will feature the retailer’s small format model, will open in the summer of 2016.

The Prescott store will be Sportsman’s Warehouse’s sixth store in Arizona, while the two Wyoming stores will bring the number of the chain’s locations in the state to four.

Williams-Sonoma knows how to connect with its core customers and has crafted life-altering promotion that does just that to commemorate its 60th anniversary.

Energy Design Service Systems (EDSS) has opened a new office in Mexico, representing the culmination of the company’s year-long efforts to expand its market reach internationally and increase exports to Mexico.

EDSS welcomes its new sales representative Yennise Garza, who brings more than a decade of experience in sales and market research to the EDSS team. With Garza’s help, EDSS expects to participate in Mexico’s increasing efforts to reduce the country’s energy consumption to meet their ambitious carbon reduction goals.