Corporate Governance

Dedham, Mass. -- iParty Corp., a leading party goods retailer with a strong presence in New England, has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Party City Holdings Inc., North America’s largest party supply retailer.

New York -- Limited Brands is putting the expansion of its teen-favorite Pink division into high gear.

On the chain’s quarterly conference call, company representatives said Pink will more than double its store count this year, growing from 34 stores to 83 stores by yearend.

New York -- Lane Bryant announced the opening of its new 7,835-sq.-ft. flagship in New York City.

Located near Herald Square, the store has a feminine, contemporary look and features such amenities as fitting rooms with lighting that can be adjusted to office, daylight and evening settings. New imagery and design is prominent throughout the store, plus fixtures that allow for high-impact merchandise displays.

Lane Bryant, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascena Retail Group, operates 805 stores.

New York -- Publix Super Markets is interested in Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Bloomberg reported.

Royal Ahold, the Netherlands-based company that operates Stop & Shop, is also looking to making a bid for the North Carolina-based chain, according to various media reports.

Harris Teeter released a statement on Feb. 13 in which it said it hired JPMorgan to assist in holding talks with suitors after being approached by two buyout firms.

New York -- Marks & Spencer, one of the leading retailers in the United Kingdom, is set to unveil a new property lease policy under which all new M&S stores will have ‘green’ clauses as standard enabling landlords and tenants to better manage a building's environmental performance.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. said that its loss narrowed in the fourth quarter, helped by improved U.S. sales. In a separate release, the company said that the deadline passed without it having received an acquisition offer from its co-founder, Richard Schulze, who had been considering making a bid for the chain.

“The company received no such offer and will continue to focus on its transformation for the benefit of all of its stakeholders,” Best Buy said in a statement.

Sixty percent of retailers with at least two years of negative comps turn them positive.

Here’s how. 

Two years of deep same-store sales declines can easily feel like a death sentence for most retailers. However, the data suggests it is indeed far from that. 

We analyzed all specialty retailers with sufficient public data over the last 20 years—nearly 70 retailers—and found that the majority of retailers who substantially underperformed the market ended up turning their comps positive in relatively short order. 

Stanley Black & Decker said it completed its acquisition of Infastech, a global manufacturer and distributor of specialty engineered fastening technologies.

Stanley paid $850 million in cash for the Hong Kong-based company. The transaction was originally announced on July 2, 2012. 

Infastech’s annual revenues are about $580 million. 

LOS ANGELES — Sport Chalet, a sporting goods chain operating mostly on the west coast, has expanded its online assortment.

Sport Chalet customers now have the opportunity to buy expanded offerings of bikes, fitness equipment, and snow sports apparel and hardgoods online at www.sportchalet.com and have their order seamlessly fulfilled by the vendor. The company expects to continue to grow the assortment of vendors and product categories using this new drop ship functionality.

Fourth quarter operating profits at Sear’s Holdings on an adjusted basis improved. 22% and same store sales at Sears flagship stores turned modestly positive.