Corporate Governance

New York -- Aeropostale reported a loss of $25.6 million for its fiscal third quarter, compared to a profit of $25 million in the same period last year.

Sales dropped 15% to $514.6 million, from $605.9 million in the year-ago period. Same-store sales also decreased 15%.

This year's November had one additional Saturday and one fewer Thursday compared with November 2012. Despite these calendar shifts, Walgreens still saw comparable store sales climb for the month.

The company reported November sales of $6.1 billion, an increase of 4.1% compared to the same month last year. Total front-end sales increased 3.2%, while comparable store front-end sales increased 1.9%. Customer traffic in comparable stores increased 0.8% and basket size increased 1.1%.

New York -- Uniqlo, a division of Japan’s Fast Retailing, announced the promotion of Lawrence (Larry) H. Meyer to CEO of Uniqlo USA.
 
Meyer left his post as executive VP of Forever 21 to join Uniqlo in January 2013 as COO. Prior to Forever 21, he served as CFO of Gymboree.

In his new role, Meyers will oversee the day-to-day operations of Uniqlo and hold responsibility for the ongoing development of the company’s retail footprint in the USA.
 

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreen Co. said Wednesday that sales for the first quarter rose 6% to $18.35 billion, from $17.32 billion in the same quarter a year earlier.  

Same-store sales increased 5.5% for the quarter. November sales totaled $6.07 billion, up 4.1% from $5.83 billion a year earlier.

The retailer attributed sales spikes to increased investment in promotional strategies.

New York – Give your project the recognition it deserves — enter Chain Store Age’s 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The entry deadline is December 23, 2013.

More than 20 competition categories are featured, including department stores, supermarkets, discounters, restaurants, convenience stores, specialty stores, service, sustainability and pop-up stores. This year, for the first time, the competition also includes the category of in-store digital innovation.

San Jose, Calif. -- Retail Next announced today the acquisition of Nearbuy Systems, a provider of location-based Wi-Fi Analytics solutions for retailers. Based in San Mateo, Calif., Nearbuy is the largest provider of in-store opt-in analytics, enabling retailers to enhance one-to-one engagement and personalization strategies.

Woonsocket, R.I. -- MinuteClinic, a division of CVS Caremark Corporation, has expanded to its 28th state with the opening of clinic locations inside select CVS/pharmacy stores in New Hampshire. Clinics are now open in Concord and West Lebanon.  

Ascena Retail Group, parent company of Lane Bryant, Dressbarn and Justice, may have just reported same store sales growth across all its formats and achieved Thanksgiving weekend sales objectives, but president and CEO David Jaffe remains cautious in his outlook for the remainder of the holiday season.

As so many other retailers have noted in recent weeks, Jaffe said this year’s highly competitive, promotional and compressed holiday season makes it difficult to know how the next few weeks will play out, despite the company’s recent performance.