Seasonal

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Fresh & Easy will kick off its annual in-store holiday food drive across all of its stores next month in honor of National Food Bank Week.

From mid-November trough Dec. 31, customers can donate canned and boxed goods in specially designated boxes at Fresh & Easy stores in Arizona, California and Nevada.

Last holiday season, the retailer and its customers donated more than $1 million in food to local food banks and charities.

NEW YORK — eBay announced that it has joined with designer Jonathan Adler to open The eBay Inspiration Shop, a 24/7 shoppable storefront in New York City showcasing a collection of new, must-have merchandise for the fall season. What makes the store unique, according to eBay is that customers can shop for the featured items using their smartphone.

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble announced that it has expanded BN.com Marketplace, adding over one million new products to the catalog. The company also announced new partnerships with Wayfair.com, Right Start, UnbeatableSale.com Inc., School Specialty Inc., Abe’s of Maine, Delivery Agent and more. By expanding its third-party marketplace, which already supports more than 10,000 retailers in the books and media categories, Barnes & Noble now offers customers a wider product selection in time for the holiday shopping season, the company reported.

Sam’s Club home office last week hosted 50 competitive barbecue teams who traveled to Northwest Arkansas for the final round of competition in the inaugural Sam’s Club National BBQ Tour. The event kicked off back in April when teams battled for a spot in the championship, which was sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society.

The winner of the event, TippyCanoe BBQ Crew of St. Ansgar, Iowa, received a cash prize of $35,000, while a total of $400,000 in prize money was awarded to teams throughout the course of the tour.

CHICAGO — As many as 71% of consumers earning less than $100,000 per year are planning to trim back their spending this holiday season, according to new research, “Holiday Shopping 2011,” released Tuesday by SymphonyIRI Group.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — Strong results in consumable categories, a little inflation and some Hurricane Irene related sales fueled an 11.5% same-store sales increase and led to a strong overall third-quarter financial performance at Tractor Supply Company.

Walmart’s deeper affiliation with NASCAR continued this week as the good old boys headed to Alabama’s Talladega super speedway for the Good Sam Club 500 where race fans were provided the opportunity to participate in Race Time at Walmart activities.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — In honor of Adopt-a-Dog Month in October, Sam's Club announced that it is pledging $20,000 of Simply Right branded pet food, supplies and Sam's Club gift cards to four U.S. animal shelters in need of support following recent natural disasters. The pet food is part of Sam's Club's new proprietary brand Simply Right line of quality and affordable pet care products, available exclusively to Sam's Club members.