Retail

As part of Von Maur's march beyond its core Heartland markets, in 2008 it opened a 130,000-sq.-ft. anchor store at the 1.1 million-sq.-ft. The Greene Town Center, located in Beavercreek, Ohio, and owned by MPI. That store has become the fashion heartbeat of a vibrant mixed-use destination that was originally built by MPI in 2006, expanded in 2008, and slated to expand again in 2014 with another 40,000 sq. ft. of retail.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop reported increased net income and sales the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same quarter a year earlier, despite closing some stores. The retailer’s adjusted net income rose to $2.3 million, compared to an adjusted net loss of $500,000 in the first quarter of last year.

Consolidated net retail sales were $102.9 million with 24 fewer stores compared to $95.2 million in the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 8% excluding the impact of foreign exchange. Consolidated same-store sales increased 10.4%.

New York -- Sally Beauty Holdings Inc.’s second-quarter earnings decreased 4.3% amid sluggish sales. The company earned $64.9 million in the quarter ended March 31, compared with $67.8 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue rose 1% to $898.2 million from $889.3 million in the year-ago period.

Same-store sales were down 0.8%.

Gary Winterhalter, chairman, president and CEO says that the quarter's performance reflected in part lower traffic fueled by two fewer days compared with the prior year quarter.

Flipping the coin
Last August in this space, I discussed the troubling sales trends and tumbling earnings from iconic retailer J.C. Penney, mentioning that the growing pains associated with implementing CEO Ron Johnson’s ambitious brand overhaul might have been a case of “too much too soon.” Given that Ron Johnson is now ex-CEO, it’s clear that those growing pains were too much to overcome.

Los Angeles – Shoppers are setting a budget for Mother’s Day spending this year, according to a new survey from PriceGrabber. Results of the 2013 Mother’s Day Survey show that 52% of consumers plan to spend less than $100 on Mother’s Day gifts, with flowers the most popular gift selection.

The survey of 6,824 US online shopping consumers also shows that 23% of shoppers will spend $100-$249, while 12% will spend more than $250 and 13% do not have a budget in mind.
 

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Rite Aid reported a 4% drop in same store sales for the four weeks ending April 27, 2013 compared to the same period a year earlier. The drugstore chain blamed part of the drop on the negative impact of an early Easter this year on front-end sales.

Same store sales also declined 3% for the eight-week period ending April 27, 2013 compared to the same eight weeks in 2012.

Toronto -- Canadian Tire Corp. announced that it will open the 'Canadian Tire Cloud Computing Centre' in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in the fall of 2013. The 28,000-sq.-ft. site will house a digital content warehouse, application lab, testing lab and high performance data centre. It will serve as the core digital hub for the Canadian Tire Family of Companies.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell any retailers out there that consumers are adopting mobile technology at a breakneck pace and integrating it into every part of their lives, including shopping. And while the retail industry generally understands that mobile technology CAN add significant value to both the customer experience and their own bottom line, it may not exactly know HOW or WHY this is the case.