Cross-Merchandising

PARIS — Gap Inc. has announced plans to open its first Banana Republic store in France in Paris in early December. Synonymous with culture, quality, heritage and style, the store will be , one of the most popular international shopping destinations in the world.

The 15,952 sq. ft. Paris flagship store will be located on Avenue des Champs Élysées and will occupy more than two floors.

South Plainfield, N.J. -- Global Bay Mobile Technologies, a provider of mobile retail software, announced the deployment of its iPad Retailing solution in 300 Pacific Sunwear stores nationwide. The chain plans to implement the solution in an additional 100 stores by yearend.

NEW YORK — Macy’s announced Giambattista Valli as the fourth designer in its collaboration series to create a capsule collection for the retailer’s fashion “Impulse” department later this fall. Known for extravagant designs and great party dresses, the collection will be Valli’s first foray into affordable fashion, the company reported.

Cleveland -- Forest City Commercial Management, in partnership with FaceCake Marketing Technologies, said it is previewing a new technology at three of its California shopping centers that allows mall shoppers to try on a vast inventory of clothing and accessories from multiple stores via the first full-motion, 3D, real-time virtual dressing room.

NEW YORK — Gap’s Old Navy unit rolled out more than 1,000 sports-oriented store-within-stores Tuesday, selling branded goods of more than 70 Division I schools, as well as National Football League teams.

The Super Fan Nation in-store concepts are being launched with a seven-figure marketing campaign that will include advertising at college stadiums and arenas, in-store appearances by college bands, cheerleaders and mascots, and a 10-day national television advertising campaign.

CHICAGO — The first CityTarget in downtown Chicago won’t open until next summer and already the store is assured of healthy lunch and dinner time traffic thanks to the addition of a Pret A Manger restaurant.

 For those who don’t speak French, Pret A Manger means “ready to eat,” and serves as a reference to the restaurant’s offering of such fresh and preservative free food as sandwiches, soups, salads and coffee. Regulars refer to the restaurant simply as Pret.

New York City -- Gap’s Old Navy unit will roll out more than 1,000 sports-oriented store-within-stores on Tuesday, selling branded goods of more than 70 Division I schools, as well as National Football League teams.

The Super Fan Nation in-store concepts are being launched with a seven-figure marketing campaign that will include advertising at college stadiums and arenas, in-store appearances by college bands, cheerleaders and mascots, and a 10-day national television advertising campaign.

New York City -- Marketing technology company SpyderLynk and Momentum Worldwide announced Friday that Office Depot has launched a national back-to-school mobile campaign that was developed by Momentum, using SpyderLynk’s 2D mobile barcode SnapTag technology.

The campaign offers back-to-school shoppers the opportunity to save through in-store mobile gift card giveaways and other discounts.

New York City -- Target announced that the British take-out chain Pret A Manager will open a location in CityTarget in Chicago.

The new, smaller Target format is set to open in the Windy City in 2012.

NEW YORK — Kmart has teamed up with Alloy Media + Marketing for a second Web series promoting Kmart for back-to-school. The Web series, "First Day 2: First Dance (www.facebook.com/FDtheseries and www.kmart.com/firstdance) is scheduled to premiere on Sept. 9 and is the sequal to the company's original Web series, "First Day."