Corporate Governance

St. Louis -- Ikea plans to install solar energy panels on its 380,000-sq-ft. St. Louis store, due to open in fall 2015. Panel installation will begin this spring, with completion before the store’s opening, making the project the largest rooftop solar array in the State of Missouri.

The store’s 259,000-sq.-ft. solar array will consist of a 1.28-MW system, built with 4,085 panels, and will produce approximately 1,780,000 kWh of electricity annually for the store, the equivalent to reducing 1,227 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Grapevine, Texas - GameStop Corp. reported declining total and same-store sales for the nine-week holiday 2014 period, despite solid growth in new software sales. Total global sales for the holiday period were $2.94 billion, a 6.7% decline compared to the 2013 holiday sales period.

In addition to educating attendees about the charitable activities of Retail ROI and presenting a heartfelt session from Katie Meyler, founder of Liberian non-profit More Than Me and a 2014 Time Person of the Year for her Ebola prevention efforts, this year’s Super Saturday event in New York focused squarely on customer experience. A variety of industry experts across a range of panel discussions all returned to the crucial need for technology-enabled, seamless customer experience.

Confident consumers stocked up on gifts and other merchandise over the 2014 holiday season, helping boost overall holiday retail sales to their highest level since 2011.

According to the National Retail Federation, December retail sales, which exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, decreased 0.9% seasonally adjusted month-to-month, and 4.6% unadjusted year-over-year. The significant drop in gasoline prices in the month of December brought down much of the month-to-month growth.

New York -- Neiman Marcus is testing interactive mirror technology at its store in Walnut Creek, Calif., that enables shoppers to see how they look in different outfits at the same time. The luxury retailer is set to pilot the technology in two additional locations, including its store in San Francisco.

The strength of the U.S. dollar and a decline in hardware sales are among the reasons GameStop cited for its decline in holiday sales. But that's not the whole story.

Sales of new software, a key category for the video game retailer, were strong. New software sales increased 5.8%, or 8.9% in constant currency. The growth was driven by a 94.4% increase in PS4 and Xbox One software, led by titles such as Activision’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V and Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4. 

Beverly, Mass. - Orchard Brands, a multichannel retailer of apparel and home products focused on consumers older than 50, has partnered with Borderfree for global e-commerce. Through its partnership with Borderfree, Orchard Brands’ 13 unique online storefronts are now available to international shoppers in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide.

Phoenix – PetSmart Inc. considered but ultimately rejected attempting to buy an unidentified, privately held pet retail chain before agreeing to an $8.7 billion sale in December 2014. In an SEC filing, PetSmart disclosed it decided against the purchase after determining there could be competitive and antitrust issues.

PetSmart also said 27 potential buyers showed interest in purchasing the company between August and October 2014, before PetSmart formally launched a bidding process.