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Corporate Governance

  • Lululemon redefines transparency with 'Lab' format

    Lululemon Athletica will open the first U.S. outpost of the brand’s design incubator “lab” format in downtown Manhattan, in March.

    It’s only the second location for the unusual concept. The first, opened in 2009, is in the company’s hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia.

  • Kirkland's posts comp increase in Q4

    Kirkland's says weather kept shoppers away from stores in January, but the home furnishings retailer still reported a slight increase in same-store sales for the fourth quarter.

    For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, net sales increased 11.4% to $199 million compared with $178.7 million for prior year quarter. Same-store sales, including e-commerce sales, rose 1.3% compared with an increase of 8.2% in the prior-year quarter. Kirkland's opened 12 stores and closed six during the fourth quarter, bringing the total number of stores to 376 at quarter end.

  • PriceSmart offers unconventional reason for comp decline

    It’s been quite common of late to hear retailers cite warm weather and intense competition as sources of sales weakness, but the prize for originality goes to PriceSmart after the warehouse club operator reported a January same-store sales decline.

  • Lululemon redefines transparency with 'Lab' store format

    Lululemon Athletica will open the first U.S. outpost of the brand’s design incubator “lab” format in downtown Manhattan, in March.

    It’s only the second location for the unusual concept. The first, opened in 2009, is in the company’s hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia.

  • Acquisition creates first national bedding chain

    The nation’s two leading mattress specialty firms are one.

    On Friday, Mattress Firm completed its $780 million acquisition of rival Sleepy’s. The combined company will have annual sales of over $3.6 billion through approximately 3,500 retail locations in 48 states.

  • Sporting goods chain eyes bankruptcy filing

    Sports Authority is taking steps towards filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to Bloomberg.

    The retailer has a debt payment due in 10 days and in talk with its lenders about a reorganization plan under which it would close as many as 200 of its more than 450 stores, the report said.
     
    Sports Authority reportedly skipped a $20 million in interest payment in January on a $343 million loan. It has 10 days to make the payment.

  • Retail traffic troubles weigh on HanesBrands

    A high single digit decline in retail traffic in November and early December caused retailers to cut orders of HanesBrands products, but not enough to keep the leading apparel suppliers from posting impressive profit growth and its third consecutive year of record sales.

    HanesBrand’s fourth quarter sales woes highlight the weather related difficulties experienced by retailers, the negative effect on traffic and the subsequent margin pressure that was created as retailers had to intensify promotional activity to move merchandise.

  • Expectations run high at Home Depot's pro desk

    The Home Depot is planning (conservatively, it says) to be a $100 billion retailer in 2018 – growing by $13 billion, or the equivalent of 357 stores, without any major change of its footprint.

    Where’s growth going to come from? A lot of it from the pro customer, who currently makes up only 4% of Home Depot’s customers, but account for about 35% of total sales. Clearly, this is a customer with clout.

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