Seasonal

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot and OfficeMax retail stores will be open from 6-9 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, and will re-open on Black Friday, Nov. 28, at 8 a.m. with doorbuster deals. Office Depot and OfficeMax will offer special deals both in stores and online, with all online Black Friday deals starting at 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 27.  

When asked which Cyber Monday offers they will take advantage of, 70% of consumers said deals. In addition, a new survey from FatWallet.com shows that 42% said coupons, 31% said cash back, 51% said storewide discounts and 68% said free shipping.  

Grapevine, Texas –- GameStop is introducing the GameStop Holiday Hub. a seamless online experience allowing customers to check out gift guides, find deals, determine trade-in values, learn about layaway options, and other shopper-friendly tools such as in-store pickup of online orders.  

Atlanta -- This year, a Halloween that fell on Friday helped boost spending growth in October, according to the monthly SpendTrend report from First Data Corp. 

Bentonville, Ark. -- A rare sales bump may provide the world’s largest retailer just the momentum it needs going into the important holiday season, say Wall Street analysts, as Wal-Mart reported that 3Q same-store sales rose at U.S. namesake stores for the first time in nearly two years.

 

However, Wal-Mart tempered the news with warnings that a highly promotional environment lies ahead.

 

New York -- According to Nielsen’s 2014 Holiday Retail Sales Forecast, nearly 25% of consumers polled had already started their holiday shopping in September. However, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still relevant, as 52% of respondents in a just released Black Friday/Cyber Monday survey stated that they plan to venture into stores on Black Friday and 55% of respondents stated that they plan to fire up their computers for Cyber Monday. 

New York -- Panasonic has unveiled a pop-up store in New York City's Union Square area featuring a collection of Panasonic's latest consumer products from the home, adventure, imaging, entertainment and beauty categories for shoppers planning their holiday gift-giving.  

Walmart’s same store sales turned positive during the third quarter, ending a two year drought, prompting the company to forecast a U.S. comp increase of as much as 1% during the fourth quarter.

J.C. Penney is in the final phase of its turnaround and the company’s stores are customers’ preferred destination for great style, quality and value, according to company CEO Mike Ullman.

Those comments came after J.C. Penney said its third quarter same store sales were flat and it forecast a fourth quarter comp increase of 2% to 4%. Total sales in the quarter ended Nov. 1 declined slightly to $2.76 billion from $2.78 billion.

Gift card sales are expected to reach record levels again this holiday season and new research from the National Retail Federation (NRF) offers insight into the increased popularity of stored value products.

More than half of shoppers polled by NRF’s Gift Card Spending Survey said they will buy gift cards this holiday season because the cards allow the recipient to select their own gift. More than 25% of shoppers said gift cards are easier and faster to buy, and 3.8% said the cards help them stick to their holiday budgets.