Research Topic

WARRENDALE, Pa. — Teen apparel retailer Rue21, opened its 900th store on March 21 in the Southern Hills Shopping Center of West Plains, Mo. The 5,000 sq. ft. store is the company's 21st location in that state.

BOSTON — PYMNTS.com, a news website serving the payments industry, released its list of winners for the 2013 PYMNTS Innovator Awards. Winners were chosen across sixteen categories by a panel of judges with deep and practical expertise in payments and payments innovation. The top finalists in each category were given an award at the PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards Dinner held this year on March 21 at Annenberg Hall on the Harvard University Campus as part of The Innovation Project. B.J.

New York -- Subway, Google, and Target, took the top three spots in “Social Currency Impact Study 2013” from global consulting firm Vivaldi Partners.

New York -- J.Crew Group Inc. expects to open 46 stores in 2013, company officials said during its quarterly conference call.
 
The specialty retailer will open 17 Madewell stores, 13 factory outlet units and 16 namesake locations, including its first-ever store in Europe, in London.
  
For the fourth quarter, J.Crew’s earnings were up 18% to $70.4 million. Same-store sales rose 11%.

Warrendale, Pa. -- Teen fashion retailer Rue21 opened its 900th store on March 21, in the Southern Hills Shopping Center of West Plains, Missouri. The company also reported that its fourth quarter income increased 16% on strong sales.

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.

NEW YORK — According to Capital Business Credit's quarterly Global Retail Manufacturers and Importers Survey, 50% of importers of retail goods are experiencing an increase in orders this spring as compared to last year, while 50% are experiencing a decrease or no change from the previous year. Of those surveyed who are having a stronger spring, the majority are experiencing growth between three and 10%.

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.

New York -- J.C. Penney Co. has 43,000 less workers at the end of its most-recently completed fiscal year (February 2, 2012) than it did a year ago, according to a report filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Post reported.

The company finished its fiscal year with 116,000 full-time and part-time employees, down from 159,000 associates a year ago, the report said. 
 

New York -- Importers and manufacturers who sell to America's major retailers are split as to whether they believe they will see growth and / or reductions in sales for the spring season, according to Capital Business Credit, a non-bank lender that services the retail sector.