Lowe's

Redwood Shores, Calif. -- Oracle announced that it has taken another step toward helping companies handle peak online volumes of traffic and transactions with the news that its ATG Web Commerce platform has improved performance by 300% on Oracle Exalogic and the Oracle Exadata database machine when compared with systems similar in size and configuration.

The performance gains were achieved during multiple benchmarking tests.

Pottsville, Pa. -- North Plainfield, N.J.-based Levin Management Corp. announced that Michaels Stores has leased 22,000 sq. ft. at Fairlane Village Mall in Pottsville, Pa.

Levin is the leasing and management agent for the property, which is owned by Ashok Mehra. Michaels’ commitment comes on the heels of a lease by Kohl’s Department Stores, reflecting momentum for the 405,000-sq.-ft. property.

Kohl’s will be opening its new 57,860-sq.-ft. store in early March.

Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel was elected chairman of the board of the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA).

Steinhafel previously served as the board’s vice chairman and in his new capacity succeeds former RILA board chairman Bill Rhodes, chairman, president and CEO of AutoZone. 

San Jose, Calif. -- Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp. announced that its spin-off from Sears Holdings Corporation was completed at 11:59 p.m. EST on December 30, 2011. Trading of Orchard’s Class A Common Stock will begin Tuesday on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “OSH”.

New York City -- Lowe's Home Improvement is facing a backlash in the wake of its decision to stop advertising on a reality show about American Muslims. About 40 local and national Muslim and Arab-American leaders from around the nation are expected to participate Monday evening in a conference call to discuss the decision by the home improvement chain to pull its ads from the cable show "All-American Muslim,” The Detroit News reported.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Reuters news service has reported that the shareholders of Sears Holding Corp. will end up with 80% of the common stock in Orchard Supply Hardware stores, following an attempt to spin off the California hardware chain into a separate unit.

Promotions during September saw mixed outcome with some retailers increasing the number of pages and inserts, while the rest decreased the volume of promotions. The contrasting promotional strategies among the retailers led to the overall change being minimal. 

Like August, the largest decrease was Lowes, which saw a 61% drop in number of number of pages per market and 54% decline in inserts per market. This was a result of Lowes not having promotions in the second and third week of both August and September.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. —  Following a disappointing second quarter and a pledge to improve going into the second half of the year, Lowe's has launched a new brand strategy to help better position itself as a market leader in home improvement retailing. The company's new tagline, "Never Stop Improving," will replace "Let's Build Something Together," in a new advertising campaign that launched Monday.