Events

In a case of art imitating life, Walmart stores are featuring a pallet display of paperback books featuring a fictional cowboy who competes in the real world Professional Bull Riders organization led by a former Walmart executive.

More than 1,200 leaders from the toy and baby products industries gathered at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York to celebrate the 2014 Toys “R” Us Children’s Fund Gala.

For a couple years now, outlet centers have been moving from the outskirts of cities closer and closer to downtown. Howard Hughes Corp.’s Outlet Collection at Riverwalk is the first to make it all the way downtown — into the center of the newly rebuilt New Orleans.

Slated to open on Memorial Day weekend, the former 200,000-sq.-ft. Riverwalk Marketplace has expanded into a 250,000-sq.-ft. outlet center following a $70 million redevelopment.

Winston-Salem, N.C. – Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. has named Anthony N. (“Tony”) Thompson, 47, as president and CEO, effective June 1. Thompson joins the company from Papa John’s International Inc., where he most recently served as president and COO.

New York – Macy’s Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with profits of $224 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, up 3.2% from $217 million in the same quarter the prior year.

Earnings rose even as sales fell 1.7% to $6.38 billion, from $6.39 billion. Same-store sales declined 0.8%. Increased operating income and decreased cost of sales helped boost net income, while severe winter weather took a toll on sales.

Unleashed by Petco is taking over the reins of the largest surfing dog competition in the United States. Fifty dogs are expected to participate in this year's Surf Dog competition, which will be held July 13 in Imperial Beach, Calif., adjacent to the pier.

Lowe’s hosted the competition for the past eight years. Unleashed by Petco is ready to take the helm and take things to “the next level.”

St. Petersburg, Fla. — On the eve of RECon 2014, The Sembler Co. is gunning its development, property management and acquisition motors. The company has more than 2.8 million sq. ft. in various stages of ground-up development. Its leasing and retention rates are at the highest levels in years. And the company’s acquisition program is active as well.

On the development side, Sembler and partner Lennar Commercial are in the predevelopment stage of an 800,000-sq.-ft. regional shopping center called Town Madison in Madison, Alabama.

Washington, D.C. - Retail sales rose ever so slightly in April, putting a damper on hopes of a sharp uptick in economic growth in the second quarter. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, retail sales, which include categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants, rose 0.1% in April, following a revised 1.5% increase in March that ranked as the biggest since March 2010.

Kohl’s and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions have partnered with Plug and Play for their newest program, Plug and Play Retail, to engage with startups that align with their developing technology initiatives.

Plug and Play Retail is the first brand and retail-focused startup accelerator bringing together a round-table of complementary partners to guide the direction of the program and help decide the startups accepted.

At its Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Tampa, IBM announced ‘IBM ExperienceOne,’ a new integrated portfolio of cloud-based and on premise offerings that help clients quickly deliver deeper, more valuable customer engagements by bringing together marketing, sales and service practices.