Strategy

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Company has launched a new exclusive concept, Modern Bride, in its stores and online.

The concept, a collaboration with Conde Nast, is designed to cater to today's bridal customer. Located in the rear of the fine jewelry department to provide an intimate customer experience, the Modern Bride in-store shops are detailed with their signage, distinctive fixtures, in-case lighting, displays and packaging, along with specially trained associates.

Grapevine, Texas -- GameStop Corp. said Friday its board has approved buying back up to $500 million worth of the company's stock and bonds over the next 18 months.

The retailer said the new $500 million allotment will replace a previous $300 million already set aside for buybacks, of which $138.4 million was left to spend. Stock buybacks reduce the number of outstanding shares, which boosts per-share earnings and expands the size if current shareholders' stakes.

Friday was to be something of a special occasion in Northwest Arkansas, until extreme winter weather forced a change of plans. Word arrived yesterday that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner would not be visiting the area as originally planned, but the visit was postponed rather than cancelled, and he would be rescheduling the visit. Originally, he was scheduled to meet with regional business leaders to discuss how government and the private sector can work together to out-innovate the competition and grow the economy, according to a Treasury press release.

Brisbane, Calif. -- Bebe Stores reported a loss for its second quarter as bad weather cut into sales and it closed some stores.

The clothing company posted a loss of $2.7 million for the quarter compared with a profit of $2.4 million in the same period last year.

Revenue fell 2% to $132.7 million for the period that ended Jan. 1.

Same-store sales were flat for the quarter, compared with a drop of 22.5% a year earlier.

Washington, D.C. -- Kohl’s Corp. ranked second on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership’s latest ranking of the Top 50 partners using the most renewable electricity.

Kohl’s joined the top-ranking Intel as the only two partners using more than 1 billion kWh of green power. The retailer increased its green power purchase to more than 1.4 billion kWh of green power annually.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target said that although its comparable-store sales were below expectations in the South and Northeast, the company believes overall sales will be driven by two of its recent initiatives.

Target chairman, president and CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, said that while the company "expects the economy to remain challenging, Target's PFresh remodel program and REDcard Rewards 5% savings program continue to operate in line with expectations."

New York City -- Dillard’s was the clear winner in the department store category in January, posting a same-store sales increase of 6%, which edged results from both Macy’s and Saks.

J.C. Penney Co. was the big disappointment, as same-store sales dropped an unexpected 1.2%. A survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters produced a consensus estimate of same-store sales up 1.8%.

The retailer said January sales were impacted by lower levels of clearance inventory as well as by adverse weather conditions.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Thursday posted January sales of $5.9 billion, representing an increase of 11.3% from last year. Early morning trading of Walgreen stock was up 51 cents to $42.48.

Only 2.8 percentage points of that increase can be attributed to the acquisition of Duane Reade, the Deerfield, Ill.-based retailer stated. Total front-end sales increased 11.5% in January, and pharmacy sales increased 10.8%, accounting for 66.1% of total sales for the month.