Events

Walmart has not been sitting idly by while Amazon racks up sales and attention for its Prime Day event.   The discount titan launched its own online sales promotion July 1. Offerings include a free 30-day trial of its ShippingPass program, which offers consumers unlimited, two-day free shipping for a year, special online rollback prices which will last 90 days or more, and free shipping with no minimum purchase on its e-commerce site from Monday, July 11 – Friday, July 15.  

Newegg.com is expanding its physical footprint, this time in Canada.   The online electronics retailer opens its Hybrid Centre in Richmond Hill, Ontario on Friday, July 15. The facility serves a dual purpose of allowing customers to pick up their will-call orders, as well as browse tech products or attend an educational seminar. Some of the products on display are available exclusively through Newegg, many of which are making their North American debut at the Hybrid Centre.  

Walmart is not the only big-name retailer preparing a July 12 online sales extravaganza.   Toys “R” Us is launching an online discount event so simple even a child could take advantage of it. All day Tuesday, July 12, shoppers on the Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us e-commerce sites can receive 15% off regular-priced items. There will also be more than 50,000 toys and baby products on sale sitewide.  

Specialty arts and crafts retailer The Michaels Companies Inc. knows that customer loyalty is not its own reward.  

A shift in the timing of a major holiday was cause for celebration at home furnishings retailer Havertys Furniture Companies Inc.   Sales in the second quarter of fiscal 2016 at Havertys rose 4% to $194.8 million, from $187.7 million the same period a year earlier. Same-store sales increased 2.8%. Written total and same-store sales for the second quarter both rose 6%.  

For 100 impoverished children in the Dallas area, it was a night they won’t soon forget.   For the second consecutive year, Ashley HomeStore and the Dallas Cowboys teamed up to host the “ultimate sleepover experience” on the field at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.    The kids got to take part in on-field games and entertainment with the Dallas Cowboys players and cheerleaders, eat pizza and watch a movie on the stadium’s gigantic 160-ft. video screen.  

Kellogg’s is in a New York state of mind. Times Square to be more specific.    On July 4, Kellogg's will open Kellogg's NYC, its first-ever permanent café, at 1600 Broadway.    

Japanese specialty apparel retailer Uniqlo is expanding its U.S. presence into the Southeast, and is also expanding its relationship with Disney.    The company will open a two-level, 25,000-sq.-ft. store on July 15 in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. It will be Uniqlo’s first location in the Southeast.   

Apple is training the next generation of coders — in its stores.   The company is expanding its Apple Camp workshops to include a course designed to teach children the basics of coding, Techcrunch reported.   The “Coding Games and Programming Robots” course, open to children ages 8 to 12, will also allow kids to program Sphero robots.   

Timberland announced a goal to double its footprint in five U.S. cities by 2020 -- but not in the conventional year.   Each year for the next five years, the brand will choose a different city with a Timberland  store, and match its retail floor space with the creation or restoration of an equivalent amount of green space in that city.