Winter Holidays

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is forecasting a 3.4% sales increase for the traditional November-December holiday period from last year — which spells good news for retailers. 

ICSC also anticipates that the other two measures of U.S. industry holiday sales — shopping-center inclined sales +3.4%, and chain-store sales +2.0 — will both increase over last year.

Following the lead of specialty retailers such as Lululemon and Athletica, Target has unveiled an exclusive collection of fashion-forward lifestyle apparel for men, women and children — C9 by Champion — just in time for the fall and holiday season.

By Chase Cornett, [email protected]

The holiday shopping season is just around the corner and soon consumers will be bombarded with buying guides, floods of emails, deep discounts and, of course, that Black Friday competitive spirit. With all the chaos brought on by the holidays, retailers are finding it harder and harder to stand out. The result — strategies that focus on discounts, deliver low profit margins and drive transactions instead of engaged brand experiences.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Multichannel video game retailer GameStop has announced plans to hire approximately 17,000 employees nationwide as the company prepares for the upcoming PlayStation 4 and Xbox One console launches, as well as the busy holiday shopping season.

Cincinnati -- Macy’s, Inc. plans to hire seasonal associates for approximately 83,000 positions at its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide for the 2013 holiday season. The company’s 2013 seasonal hiring plan will bring on approximately 4% more temporary workers than the 80,000 holiday employees it hired in 2012.

October 2013 is projected to be the coolest in four years for the U.S. as a whole. Expect colder year-on-year trends across the Northeast and Southwest, especially during retail weeks one, three and four. Wetter trends will encompass the Texas to Louisiana Gulf Coast, where tropical storm and hurricane potential will be the highest should any storms develop this month and threaten the U.S. mainland. The northern tier of the U.S. will trend drier than last year, especially across the Great Lakes.

In anticipation of increased store traffic this holiday shopping season, Jo-Ann has announced plans to hire more than 3,000 seasonal employees in stores across the country — a 14% increase over its non-seasonal in-store workforce.

Plano, Texas – J.C. Penney Co., Inc. will reportedly hire about 35,000 seasonal workers for the upcoming holiday season. According to Reuters, holiday workers will help perform tasks such as assisting customers and updating price signage.

J.C. Penney also hired about 35,000 seasonal employees during the 2011 holiday season. The retailer did not release holiday hiring figures last year.