Strategy

Starbucks previewed the first-of-its-kind Teavana Fine Teas + Tea Bar in New York City’s Upper East Side. The tea bar offers a curated assortment of handcrafted tea beverages, premium loose leaf teas, tea-inspired food offerings and tea merchandise.

It's been almost one year since Starbucks acquired Teavana, and the company plans to expand the new tea bar format to additional stores throughout the course of the next year.

New York - U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and a group of location analytics companies including Euclid, iInside (a WirelessWERX company), Mexia Interactive, Solomo, Radius Networks, Brickstream and Turnstyle Solutions have agreed to a code of conduct to promote consumer privacy and responsible data use for retail location analytics.  

York, Pa. – The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. is the latest retailer to plan to have its stores open Thanksgiving night. Bon-Ton will open its stores at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 28 and offer in-store doorbuster deals through 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 29.

Online doorbusters will begin at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27. Other retailers that have already announced plans to open stores at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night include Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Kohl’s.

Toano, Va. – Lumber Liquidators increased its net income in the third quarter of fiscal 2013 58.4% to $20.4 million, from $12.9 million in the year-ago period.

Net sales grew 24.5% to $254.3 million, from $204.3 million in the same period a year earlier. Same-store sales grew 17.4%, driven by a 9.8% increase in the number of customers invoiced and a 6.9% increase in the average sale.  

New York -- The three rules of retail real estate are the same as the three rules of any other type of real estate – “location, location, location.” But each retail chain has its own unique requirements for what makes a good location, and Charlotte, N.C.-based Bojangles’ Restaurants Inc. is getting some technical assistance in determining the best spots for new stores based on factors such as who lives nearby.

Scouting the Best Locations

Canada Safeway is up for grabs, and the Canadian Competition Bureau is allowing Sobey’s Inc. to proceed with the acquisition of substantially all its assets.

As part of the consent agreement, Sobey’s will divest 23 stores in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Sasketchewan. The deal, announced in June, will cost Sobey’s owner Empire Co. Ltd. about $5.7 billion.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop plans an in-store shop in the FAO Schwarz  Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan. Opening in early November, the location is the first Build-A-Bear Workshop store-within-a-store in the United States. (FAO Schwarz is owned by Toys “R” Us.)

The Bon-Ton Stores will be opening its stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, joining a growing list of retailers getting a jump on Black Friday. The retailer is also offering in-store doorbuster deals through 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29.

Online doorbusters will begin at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 27. Other retailers that have already announced plans to open stores at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving night include Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Kohl’s.