Seasonal

San Francisco -- Westfield San Francisco Centre is partnering with the Asian Art Museum, Bloomingdale’s and M.Y. China to celebrate the Chinese New Year with music and dance performances, storytelling, live cooking demonstrations, zodiac readings and more – all launching in January.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s is gearing up for increased demand this spring, by hiring approximately 45,000 seasonal employees at its stores in the United States. The company will also add 9,000 permanent part-time employees.

Seasonal jobs available are focused on customer support and include cashiers, lawn and garden specialists, loaders, and stockers. The number of hours worked per week will vary based on the needs of individual stores, but, on average, seasonal employees could work an estimated 20 to 25 hours per week.

LANDOVER, Md. — A supermarket chain in the Washington area is marking Inauguration Day by donating lunches to the police officers assigned to guard it.

Ahold banner Giant Food of Landover, Md. — also known as Giant-Landover to distinguish it from fellow Ahold banner Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pa. — said it would donate boxed lunches and water to the 5,000 officers of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Park Police and National Park Service.

Amsterdam -- Ahold reported Friday that sales for the fourth quarter rose 7.5% to $10.4 billion, boosted largely by its ability to keep U.S. stores open during Hurricane Sandy, said the company. Same-store sales advanced 2.8%.

Its U.S. business includes the Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover and Giant-Carlisle supermarket banners and the Peapod online grocery service. Ahold posted fourth quarter sales of $6.1 billion in the U.S., marking a 4.3% rise over the year-ago period.

For the full fiscal year, sales increased 8.5% to $43.6 billion.

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands — Dutch retailer Ahold reported that sales at its U.S. operations rose 4.3% to $6.1 billion during the fourth quarter, thanks to efforts to keep stores open during Hurricane Sandy.

Identical-store sales for U.S. stores rose 2.4%, and comparable-store sales were up 2.8% during the fourth quarter.

Net sales at U.S. stores for the year increased 3.1% to $25.8 billion. Idents rose 1.4% for the year, while comps were up 1.9%, 

By Bruce Jones, Disney Institute

By Bruce Jones

The 2012 holiday shopping season featured stores opening earlier on Thanksgiving, extended hours shopping marathons, and, according to the National Retail Federation, an additional 585,000 to 625,000 seasonal retail workers.

San Francisco -- Williams-Sonoma reported that its revenue increased 4.8% to $1.01 billion for the nine-week period ended Dec.30.The company also backed its fourth-quarter and full-year forecast.

Williams-Sonoma will discuss its performance in more detail in March when it releases its fourth quarter results.

Company president and CEO Laura Alber said the chain's performance reflected the strength of its brands even amid a time of consumer uncertainty and intense promotional activity across the retail industry.