Strategy

While teen apparel retailers are feeling the heat from online and fast-fashion competitors, Five Below continues to move across the country.

The extreme-value brand for and pre-teens and teens will open its first store in Wisconsin, in Racine, on May 6, 2016.The Racine store is one of approximately 85 new Five Below locations opening in 2016, on top of 71 new stores that opened in 2015.

Online sales and returns are taking toll on retailers’ bottom lines.

Operating earnings as a percent of sales has declined by up to 25% due to a shift from in-store to online sales, combined with e-commerce and omnichannel investments and the high cost of fulfilling e-commerce transactions, according to a study by strategic retail advisory firm HRC Advisory.

Sears Holdings has been having issues attracting shoppers to stores, as evidenced by the recent decision to close 78 brick-and-mortar locations.

However, the department store retailer is not giving up on efforts to drive store traffic. Sears is combining the eternal appeal of Mom and its strong history of omnichannel customer service to give shoppers a good reason to visit their local store.

Omnichannel may be a big industry buzzword, but retailers are still figuring out how to apply it to payments.

According to a new survey of nearly 100 global retailers by PCM Research and electronic payment and banking solution provider ACI Worldwide, “Omnichannel Payments for Merchants: Myth or Reality?” only 21% of respondents have competed an omnichannel payments program.

Aeropostale will reportedly file for bankruptcy protection this week and subsequently close more than 100 of its 800 stores, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The struggling teen apparel retailer plans to reorganize under a Chapter 11 filing this week ahead of May rent payments, the report said. On Aeropostale has been struggling for some time. The chain has recorded three consecutive years of losses as its struggles to deal with a teen audience whose spending tastes now favor fast-fashion giants such as H&M as well as online retailers.

Build-A-Bear Workshop on Tuesday said it has hired financial and legal advisers to help it explore strategic alternatives. The news came the day after General Nutrition Corp. (GNC) said it was doing the same.

Academy Sports + Outdoors named Thomas "Tom" Lamb executive VP, chief marketing officer, effective May 23.

Tom, 50, joins Academy after 17 years with Lowe's Companies, where he most recently served as chief marketing officer. At Lowe's he led the marketing, advertising, brand management, private brand development, customer relationship management, and digital communication activities for the $59 billion retailer.

Publix Super Markets on Monday turned in another winning revenue performance, reporting $8.7 billion in sales for its first quarter, up 4.5% from $8.3 billion in the year ago period. Same-store sales rose 3.3%.

Net earnings were up to $581.9 million, up 6% over the same period last year.

It was the first quarterly report issued under new CEO Todd Jones. Former chief executive Ed Crenshaw retired Friday after 42 years with the company and nearly eight as CEO.

Sheetz is putting the “help wanted” sign out.

Kit and Ace announced that Wendy Bennison has been named president. Interim CEO Paul Wilson will resume his role as CEO of Hold It All Inc.

“We feel very fortunate to have Wendy on board,” said Wilson. “She is a proven leader with an incredible depth of knowledge in the retail marketplace – both here in Canada and internationally. We’re confident that there is no better person to helm the next phase of our growth.”