Research Topic

New York -- J.C. Penney has angered a conservative group with a Father's Day ad that features a gay couple and their two young children. The print ad shows the two men playing with their 3-year-olds and reads, "First Pals - What makes Dad so cool? He's the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver - all rolled into one. Or two.” It is part of a spread in Penney’s June catalog, mailed out this week.

WASHINGTON — While dads usually don't get the same caliber of gift for Father's Day as moms do or Mother's Day, if the results of NRF's latest survey are to be believed, dads should be pretty pleased with what they receive this year.

News reports this week speculated Denver might be getting a new CityTarget store. Get used to seeing similar speculation in other major markets as the company seeks to tap a new growth frontier.

Los Angeles -- Regional sporting goods retailer Sport Chalet reported Monday that it lost $3.8 million in the quarter ended April 1, compared with net income of $300,000 in the year-ago period.

The company cited warm weather trends for the weakened performance.

Revenue fell 16.6% to $81.9 million, from $98.2 million. Same-store sales dropped 5.3%.

 

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation released Tuesday the Top 10 cities for organized retail crime activity.

Topping the list is Atlanta. The other nine are:

WASHINGTON — Organized retail crime is a growing concern for all retailers, with a staggering 96% reporting that their company has been the victim of a crime in the past year, according to NRF's Organized Retail Crime Survey. This number is up from 94.5% in the past year.  In addition, 87.7% say ORC activity in the United States has grown over the past three years.

Washington, D.C. -- The number of retailers that fell victim to organized retail crime groups increased in the past, according to the National Retail Federation’s Organized Retail Crime Survey.

Of the 125 retail companies surveyed for NRF’s eighth annual survey, a record-setting (96%) said their company has been the victim of organized retail crime in the past year, up from 94.5% last year. Another 87.7% said ORC activity in the United States has grown over the past three years.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported Tuesday that net sales for the month of May dropped 1.6% to $5.98 billion, compared with $6.08 billion in the year-ago period.

Total front-end sales edged up 0.3%, and same-store sales dipped 1%.

Total sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 were $17.77 billion, down 3.3% from $18.37 billion in the third quarter last year.