Seasonal

MINNEAPOLIS — Wheaties is saluting two Olympic gold medalists by touting them on limited-edition boxes of the cereal.

The brand officially unveiled the boxes featuring swimmer Michael Phelps and professional beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor.

"Michael Phelps and Misty May-Treanor have inspired others to get out and achieve their own personal best," said Jim Wilson, Wheaties marketing. "Wheaties is proud to honor them and to fuel athletes everywhere."
 

WAYNE, N.J. — Fashionable moms will want to head to there local Babies"R'Us store this fall to ge their hands on the retailer's new, exclusive line of baby and children's products from supermodel Heidi Klum.

HERSHEY, Pa. and SAN FRANCISCO — The Hershey Company recently partnered with the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Calif. to provide students with a hands-on package-design opportunity. Students were asked to create a customized heart box design for Hershey's Pot of Gold chocolates to help give the collection a contemporary, fresh look for the 2013 Valentine's Day season.

Peoria, Ill. -- Cullinan Properties, developer of the East Peoria Downtown shopping center, hosted a ceremonial ‘Steel Raising’ event last week to mark the development of the Peoria project.

Joining Target and Costco at the center will be Ulta Beauty with an 11,000-sq.-ft. store adjacent to Target, and Gordmans, which has leased a 50,000-sq.-ft. space slated to open in early 2013.

Winter is fast approaching — is your facility ready? Statistically speaking nearly 80% of all slip and falls are due to snow and ice, and they occur mainly in parking lots and sidewalks. As an expert witness and consultant in the field of risk and liability due to snow and ice, I see incidences that could have been avoided had the facility performed a pre-season property assessment.

Retailers looking to add sparkle to this year’s Christmas season may want to take a new look at their gift card programs. Last year, more than half of consumers bought at least one gift card for the holidays, according to a report from First Data Corp., an Atlanta-based e-commerce processor.

Indeed, consumers seem to be taking more of a shine than ever to these types of spending vehicles.

When the days grow shorter and the air starts to turn chilly, retail companies prepare for their hottest time of year. As they get ready for the holiday season, retailers will do well to keep three additional factors in mind:

u Adjust for the presidential election. Typically, retailers market heavily in October and early November to drive store foot traffic as the holidays begin. Early marketing efforts, however, will not go as far this holiday season.

Home Depot Tuesday reported sales of $20.6 billion for the second quarter of 2012, a 1.7% increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2011. Comparable sales for U.S. stores were positive 2.6%, and overall same-store sales for the second quarter were positive 2.1%.

Net earnings for the world’s largest home improvement retailer were $1.53 billion for the second quarter, which ended July 29. This compares with net earnings of $1.36 billion in the same period a year ago, reflecting a 12.4% increase.

New York -- Saks Inc. reported Tuesday a loss of $12.3 million for the second quarter, widened from a loss of $8.4 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue climbed 5.1% to $704.1 million, widely missing the $762.6 million projected by Wall Street. Same-store sales increased 4.7% in the quarter.

Atlanta -- The Home Depot reported Tuesday that profit for the second quarter rose to $1.5 billion from $1.4 billion in the same quarter last year.

Sales edged up 1.7% to $20.6 billion, and same-store sales climbed 2.1% overall and 2.6% in the U.S.

"As expected, second-quarter sales reflected the pull forward of seasonal activity into the first quarter," said Frank Blake, Home Depot chairman and CEO. "But we saw continued demand for core products and delivered second-quarter earnings above our expectations."