Strategy

Americans spent lots of money on apparel in September, and that could be good news for Walmart where last we heard from stores division president and CEO Bill Simon apparel was a key areas where he was confident the retailer would see ongoing improvement during the back half of the year.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Hot Topic said Wednesday that Mark Mizicko has joined the company as its senior VP planning and allocation.

Mizicko will lead the merchandise planning and allocation teams for both the Hot Topic and Torrid brands. He most recently served as VP marketing and logistics for Gymboree.
 

In addition to all the various strategies Walmart has in place to restore same-store sales growth to its U.S. division. A major factor in its favor is that the size of the pie is expected to growth this year.

The National Retail Federation is out with its annual forecast, and according to the trade group, holiday sales are expected to increase 2.8% to $465.6 billion. While that growth is less than the 5.2% increase retailers experienced last year, it is slightly higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of 2.6%, according to NRF.

Minneapolis -- Christopher & Banks Corp. reported Thursday a net loss of $13 million for the quarter ended Aug. 27, compared with a loss of $2.5 million in the year-ago period.

Sales dropped to $96.2 million from $101.3 million, and same-store sales declined 8% during the quarter.

For the second half of fiscal 2012, the retailer said it plans to open approximately eight new stores and close approximately 17 existing stores.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Humana will offer Medicare Part D beneficiaries a prescription drug plan co-branded with Wal-Mart Stores, the two companies said earlier this week.

The plan, originally launched in 2010, will be launched again for 2012 and will include savings on monthly plan premiums, prescription drug copayments and cost-shares for beneficiaries.

Minneapolis -- Following a disappointing second quarter, Best Buy is looking to reposition itself as a tech leader with plans to hire more than 200 information technology professionals, with more than 100 new positions to be posted in the next several weeks.

Best Buy said Thursday it is looking to recruit skilled professionals from across the IT landscape, including e-commerce, business analytics, application development, engineering and project management.

FORT WORTH, Texas and DALLAS — Pier 1 Imports announced that it has, through a subsidiary, signed a new, long-term private-label credit card agreement with Alliance Data , a provider of loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data.

New York City -- Macy’s saw same-store sales rise 4.9% in September, and total sales increased 5.3% to $2.298 billion in the five-week period.

“We continued to see a strong sales trend in September at both Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and CEO of Macy’s. “Our sales performed well both in stores and online. This underscores that our business remains on track, despite the persistently negative macroeconomic news.”