Events

CANTON, Mass. — Global fitness brand Reebok has entered into a multi-year partnership with Spartan Race that will see Reebok as the title sponsor of the global race series.

Reebok’s titular sponsorship begins with the first race of the season at Vail Lake Resort in Temecula, Calif., on January 26 and 27.

The first indication that something big was brewing with Walmart on the domestic sourcing front came last week.

That’s when Walmart announced internally at that SVP of home, Michelle Gloeckler, would assume additional responsibilities for a new U.S. sourcing and manufacturing initiative. Reporting to Gloeckler is Greg Hall who was named vp of U.S. sourcing and manufacturing after previously serving as vp of marketing for Walmart.com.

New York - Lord & Taylor is teaming up with Lifetime's popular "Project Runway" television show for the program’s eleventh season, making it the show’s exclusive retail sponsor.

As part of the sponsorship deal, the show will feature a custom-built “accessory wall” featuring an assortment of Lord & Taylor’s shoes, handbags and accessories, which contestants will use to complete their looks during each challenge.

Philadelphia — Specialty value retailer Five Below's fourth quarter total sales for the period from October 28, 2012 through January 12, 2013 increased 34% to $158.5 million, while comparable store sales for the same period increased 4.2%.
 
Five Below has proposed a secondary offering of 7,000,000 shares of its common stock, amid reports that sales are not as bad as originally feared.

Ashburn, Va. -- Miller and Smith, along with JV partner North America Sekisui House, said Tuesday that The Fresh Market will open a new store at One Loudoun, in Loudoun County, Va.

The 23,000-sq.-ft. specialty grocer will break ground in January 2013 and is slated to open fall 2013.  

NEW YORK — Walmart announced its plans to increase domestic sourcing of the products it sells and hire 100,000 honorably discharged veterans in the next five years.

Speaking at the National Retail Federation's annual BIG Show, Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon also announced the company is helping part-time associates who want to work full-time make that transition.

DAYTON, Ohio — Stratacache, a leading provider of scalable, high-performance digital signs, content distribution and video acceleration technologies, has unveiled a Web caching solution at the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention and Expo.

Called Retail Cache, the solution enhances Web browsing, so customers can use in-store tablets to check out catalogs or order out-of-stock merchandise, without encountering slow, unreliable Internet connectivity.

NEW YORK — Despite caution among consumers, retailers wrapped up 2012 with a healthy holiday shopping season, according to a new report by a retailing trade group.

The National Retail Federation said that holiday retail sales increased 3% over the year before, to $579.8 billion. December retail sales increased 0.8% seasonally adjusted from November and 2.1% unadjusted year over year. Nevertheless, the 3% increase was still below the NRF's projected 4.1% growth. Meanwhile, nonstore holiday sales grew 11.1%.

New York -- Walmart plans to significantly boost its sourcing from domestic suppliers over the next decade. The plan was announced during an address by Bill Simon, Walmart U.S. president and CEO, at the National Retail Federation's annual convention in New York. Simon also announced the company is committed to helping part-time associates who want to be full time, make that transition.

New York -- Total holiday retail sales increased 3% to $579.8 billion, below the National Retail Federation s projected forecast of 4.1%. Non-store holiday sales grew 11%, below the 12% growth forecast by Shop.org. (The NRF sales figures exclude automobiles, gas stations and restaurants.)

“For over six months, we’ve been saying that the fiscal cliff and economic uncertainty could impact holiday sales. As the number shows, these issues had a visible impact on consumer spending this holiday season,” said Matthew Shay, CEO, NRF.