Strategy

San Francisco — La Boulange, the bakery-café chain owned by Starbucks, has opened its first restaurant outside its base of San Francisco, in Los Angeles. The new all-day menu offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, using local California-sourced ingredients wherever possible, as well as tap wine and beer and specialty cocktails.

Despite announcing a $450 million share buyback program in conjunction with its first-quarter results, Lululemon’s shares dropped 10% as it continues trying to regain its footing in an increasingly competitive field.

Net revenue for the quarter increased 11% to $384.6 million from $345.8 million in the prior-year quarter. Sales at stores and online inched up 1%, primarily driven by an online sales increase of 25%, which offset a 4% decrease same-store sales.

Seattle — Amazon.com has debuted a new feature for members of its Prime paid benefits program called Prime Music. The service provides ad-free access to more than one million songs and hundreds of expert-programmed Prime Playlists.

Corte Madera, California — Furniture and housewares retailer Restoration Hardware reported a profit of $1.8 million in the quarter ended May 3, compared with a loss of $161,000 last year. Results topped Wall Street expectations and prompted the company to raise its outlook for the year.

Revenue grew 22% to $366.3 million, from $301.3 million in the year-ago period. Wall Street predicted $346.7 million.
 

Bigcommerce, a commerce platform for growing and emerging brands, has named Tim Schulz as SVP of product management.

Lululemon Athletica Inc.'s first-quarter net income plunged 60%, impacted by a one-time tax adjustment. Although its adjusted profit and revenue beat Wall Street's expectations for the quarter, the retailer lowered its full-year earnings forecast.

Lululemon said that CFO John Currie plans to retire by the end of its fiscal year (February 2015).

Daniel Castle, former Iconix VP of international and business development, will be joining Saban Brands as the company’s managing director of strategic business development.

Washington, D.C. — Consumer spending rose 0.3% in May, marking four consecutive months of rising U.S. retail sales.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that May results were boosted by strength from the auto sector, which recorded a 1.4% sales increase during the month. U.S. retail sales rose 0.5% in April and 1.5% in March.