Strategy

Toronto - Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is capitalizing on 42 real estate assets. The retailer has closed a joint venture with Simon Property Group focused on credit tenant, net-leased and multi-tenanted retail buildings in the U.S. and internationally.   

The CEO of Tractor Supply Company credited strong marketing and merchandising initiatives with a significant increase in same store sales in the second quarter.

Bentonville, Ark. – Shoppers who frequent 24-hour Wal-Mart locations may want to double-check the opening and closing times. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart will begin closing about forty 24-hour stores in areas including Philadelphia, New Jersey and Maryland for a few hours each night.   This expands upon the nighttime closures of about 25 other 24-hour Wal-Marts, which began earlier this year. Wal-Mart plans to use the downtime for activities such as stocking shelves and preparing store floors for customers. 

Houston – Specialty retailer Charming Charlie is setting its sights beyond its North American store base. Charming Charlie opened the brand’s first locations outside of North America with two new retail stores in Dubai.   The stores, located at City Centre Mirdif and Ibn Battuta Mall, are operated by Apparel Group, Charming Charlie’s first international licensing partner, which has further growth planned for the brand in Qatar this year.   

New York – The changes continue at eBay. Jeff Wong, who ran eBay’s Business Incubation Group, has joined professional services firm Ernst & Young as chief innovation officer.    Wong will lead Ernst & Young’s newly formed Global Innovation Team. The team will identify emerging concepts and solutions and also work to develop new technologies, strategies and solutions.  

Shares of Amazon.com surged past the $500 mark after the company reported a second quarter profit and revealed more details about a phenomenally successful Prime day promotion that fell in the third quarter.

Seattle – Sales growth outpaced that of expenses during second quarter 2015, leading to a rare report of positive net income at Amazon.com Inc. Amazon reported net income of $92 million, compared to net loss of $126 million the same quarter the prior fiscal year.  

Seattle – Starbucks Corp. is snubbing Uber in new extension of its loyalty program. Starbucks is partnering with rival online transportation service Lyft to offer Lyft drivers and passengers the chance to earn points in its loyalty program.