Winter Holidays

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Discount retailers TJ Maxx and Saks Off Fifth outlets plan to dive into e-commerce waters this year, according to reports. 

San Jose, Calif. -- Retailers are cautiously optimistic about the 2013 holiday season, with 60% forecasting revenue growth in excess of 10%, in line with industry forecasts, according to a survey by Baynote, a provider of personalized customer experience solutions.

Dallas -- The Army & Air Force Exchange Service announced a refresh of the organization’s official website, Shopmyexchange.com, in preparation for the key holiday selling season.
 
Improvements include a new homepage layout design, complete with an updated visual look and industry-standard navigation; more product categories; easy-to-find links to specialty stores and online mall vendors; improved product pages; and easier checkout.
 

Atlanta – The Home Depot is recalling about 107,000 Chinese-made fan heaters because the fan's plastic housing can melt, deform and catch fire during use, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The Soleil portable fan heaters, marked with model number LH-707, cost about $15 each, and Home Depot will issue a full refund for the purchase price.

The heaters were sold between September 2012 and May 2013 for about $15 each. The CPSC says there have been 464 reports of fans melting, but no injury or property damage has been reported.

IRVING, Texas — Holiday shifts adversely affected quarter-to-date performance at Michaels Stores, which reported net sales of $631 million for the nine-week period ending July 6, a decrease of 0.1% from $631.8 million for the comparable period last fiscal year. 

Same-store sales for the same fiscal period declined 2.7%. The company's quarter-to-date performance was also adversely affected by the timing of media activity due to the impact of the 53rd week in fiscal 2012. However, as a result of the shifts, the company has seen improvement in July sales performance.

Chattanooga, Tenn. — CBL & Associates Properties has announced that Dunham’s Sports has leased a 60,200-sq.-ft. space in Randolph Mall in Asheboro. N.C. Scheduled to open for the 2013 holiday shopping season, the new Dunham’s will replace Dillard’s, which closed in late July.

Belk, J.C. Penney, Sears and Cinemark theatre anchor the 380,000-sq.-ft. regional Randolph Mall.

New York -- Fashion designer and retailer Kenneth Cole is partnering with the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots on the launch of a limited-edition capsule shoe collection arriving in stores for the holiday season.

To promote the launch, a designated area in front of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street in Manhattan) will encourage passersby to try and win a pair of Kinky Boots tickets by following @kennethcoleprd and @kinkybootsbway and Instagraming a photo of their "kinky" shoes using #KCKinkyboots.

Columbus, Ohio – John C. Martin, executive VP and chief merchandising officer of Big Lots Inc., intends to retire his position with the company. Martin will continue in his current capacity until his successor is appointed, and he has committed to provide guidance through May 2014.

Big Lots has retained SpencerStuart to conduct a search of external candidates to succeed Martin.

Akron, Ohio -- Kay Jewelers said it has teamed with wedding site The Knot to launch an interactive wedding ring style quiz on Facebook.

As part of the promotion, consumers visit The Knot or Kay Jewelers on Facebook and answer questions about personal style and wedding ring preferences. Once complete, participants will receive their wedding ring personality types along with brand suggestions, and will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a pair of wedding bands from Kay.

WHITE PLAINS — Burlington Coat Factory is joining the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night campaign for the 12th consecutive year. The retailer will be collecting donations at checkout to help support blood cancer research. 

Burlington Coat Factory also plans to enlist its more than 28,000 employees nationwide to participate in Light the Night walks across the country to commemorate lives touched by cancer and raise funds to help fight blood cancers.