Marketing Tactics

That old expression about everything being bigger in Texas was given more credence today with the grand opening of a 40,000-sq.-ft. Golfsmith superstore in Houston.

The store, one of 10 planned openings for 2013, is what the company calls its Xtreme format. The new location in the west Houston suburb of Katy gives the company five Houston locations, 13 stores throughout Texas and more than 150 locations nationwide.

Minnetonka, Minn. -- Brixmor Property Group has announced a 2,108-sq.-ft. lease with Bruegger's Bagels at Westwind Plaza, located in Minnetonka, Minn.

Brixmor, based in New York City, is the owner of Westwind Plaza.
 

New York -- Barnes & Noble announced on Friday that it would give away a free Nook Simple Touch e-reader, which retails for $79, to any customer who buys its high-definition Nook HD+ tablet between March 24 and March 31.

The offer is available at all Barnes & Noble stores, Barnes & Noble College Bookstores and online. It also is being offered through other retailers that sell Nook products, including Walmart.com, Target and Best Buy.
 

LOS ANGELES — U.K.-based Tesco has lost up to $2 billion in its failed Fresh & Easy California venture, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times — Tesco had placed the troubled grocer on the sales bloc in December following the departure of Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. 

The retailer's struggles can be traced to labor unions and an ambitious investment into an 850,000-sq.-ft. distribution center that placed pressure on the 200-store chain to expand rapidly, according to the LA Times report. 

The Scan & Go system Walmart introduced last fall in Northwest Arkansas and Atlanta has been expanded to six new markets.

The Associated Press reported this week that Walmart’s Scan & Go program, initially available in about 70 stores in two markets, has been expanded to 200 stores in new markets including Dallas, Houston, Austin, Denver, Portland and Seattle.

The system enables shoppers who download an app to scan items with their smartphones and then pay at self-checkout terminals by scanning a code that displays on their smartphone screen.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Pacific Sunwear of California announced that net sales from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 ended Feb. 2, were $228 million versus net sales from continuing operations of $218.7 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2011 ended Jan. 28, 2012.

Comparable-store sales for the fourth quarter of 2012 increased 1%.  

The company ended fiscal 2012 with 644 stores, compared with 733 as of the end of fiscal 2011. The company closed 78 stores in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.

Allow me to be the group historian for a minute. Does anyone remember, in 1984, the "Crafted with Pride in the U.S.A." advertising campaign, spearheaded by the late Roger Milliken, and funded by a consortium of fiber, chemical and textile companies? This was supposed to have instilled enough patriotism in the consumer to buy goods made in America at a furious enough rate to keep manufacturing here on our soil.

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation has released the following statement from NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in support of the Jobs Originated Through Launching Travel (JOLT) Act:

“With the average international tourist spending well over $4,000 shopping in our stores, staying at our hotels, and eating at our restaurants, efforts aimed at encouraging more foreign travel is a simple way to spur economic growth and job creation. This is especially true in the retail industry.