Retailer Campaigns

New York -- Modell’s Sporting Goods will celebrate the grand opening of its store in Arlington, Va., on May 9.
   
The store is located in Pentagon Centre. With its opening, Modell’s will have a total of 154 storefronts.
 
“We are thrilled to have our 18th store in the Virginia-Maryland area,” said Modell’s president and CEO Mitchell Modell. “We look forward to becoming a stronghold in our new community and getting them everything they need for the summer.”
 

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. — Unilever’s Dove has announced the launch of a new initiative, “Let’s Make Girls Unstoppable,” as part of its commitment to reach 15 million girls by 2015 with self-esteem programming.

Mississauga, Ontario -- Target announced the soft opening dates for 24 locations in Western Canada, with 22 stores opening on May 7 and two  opening on May 14.

The openings, which include stores in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba, follow the opening of 24 stores across Ontario. As previously announced, Target plans to open 124 stores across Canada throughout 2013.

Ace Hardware and the Weather Channel have announced the launch of “Restore Your Outdoors,” which pairs Ace's service with the local weather knowledge from The Weather Channel. 

As part of this program, homeowners from across the country can enter for a chance to win $15,000 in Ace gift cards. In addition to the sweepstakes, Ace’s alliance with The Weather Channel provides homeowners with tips and tools to complete their outdoor home maintenance tasks.

SEATTLE — Jones Soda Co., a beverage company known for its colorful sodas and customer-designed packaging, announced the launch of Natural Jones Soda.

The Natural Jones Soda product line is sweetened with a proprietary blend of natural sweeteners including pure cane sugar, organic agave syrup and stevia. Each 12-ounce glass bottle contains 30 calories, five grams of fiber and five grams of sugar and comes in four fruit flavors: Green Apple, Orange Mango, Cherry and Lemon Lime.

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid reported a 4% drop in same store sales for the four weeks ending April 27, 2013 compared to the same period a year earlier. The drugstore chain blamed part of the drop on the negative impact of an early Easter this year on front-end sales.

Same store sales also declined 3% for the eight-week period ending April 27, 2013 compared to the same eight weeks in 2012.

Flipping the coin
Last August in this space, I discussed the troubling sales trends and tumbling earnings from iconic retailer J.C. Penney, mentioning that the growing pains associated with implementing CEO Ron Johnson’s ambitious brand overhaul might have been a case of “too much too soon.” Given that Ron Johnson is now ex-CEO, it’s clear that those growing pains were too much to overcome.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp. reported upticks in net income, sales and same store sales for first quarter fiscal 2013. Net income grew from $156,000 to $7.5 million.

Net sales were $246.5 million, up from $218.3 million a year earlier, while same-store sales rose 10.5%. First quarter sales improved despite the negative impact of the calendar shift of the Easter holiday, when the retailer’s stores are closed.