Retail

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens reported Wednesday that sales for the month of March increased 2.3% to $6.2 billion.

Total front-end sales increased 5.4% compared with the same month in fiscal 2012, while same-store front-end sales increased 4.2%. Front-end sales will have benefited from a March 31 Easter — last year Easter sales fell in April. As a result Walgreens said it will report combined comps for March and April with its April sales results.
 

Los Angeles - Bebe stores announced Wednesday it has named Katrina Glusac as chief merchandising officer, effective immediately.

In her new role, Glusac will lead the merchandising, visual merchandising and planning & allocations teams in defining and building the brand’s merchandising offerings across all categories.
 
Most recently, Glusac served as chief merchant and VP merchandising at ShoeDazzle.com. Prior to that, she was divisional VP and general merchandising manager of Guess.

New York -- Best Buy Co. Inc. and Target Corp. ended a partnership that positioned Geek Squad agents in Target stores in Denver and Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The six-month pilot allowed Geek Squad personnel to offer services such as installation and repair to electronics customers at 29 Target stores. The program covered a wide range of consumer electronics products, according to the report.

New York -- Cache announced that Daphne Pappas has joined the company as EVP, chief merchandise officer. For the past 10 years, she served as VP general merchandising manager for Burberry America’s where she led the company’s women’s business.

Prior to Burberry, Pappas was the divisional merchandise manager of juniors sportswear at Macy’s East.

Boston -- City Sports announced that it has named Ted Manning as chief merchandising 0fficer.

Manning joins City Sports following nearly two decades of service with outdoor retailer Eastern Mountain Sports, most recently as their EVP, where he developed strategies for retail expansion, merchandising, product development and marketing. Manning began his career at EMS in store management, climbing the ranks to hold posts as a product manager, merchandise director and VP/general merchandise manager.
 

New York -- Polaroid has thrown its hat in the retail ring, opening its first-ever retail store, in Delray Beach, Fla. Nine additional locations in select U.S. cities are scheduled to open by the end of the year. For photos click here.

New York -- Store development and facilities professionals from some of the nation’s biggest retail and restaurant chains gathered in Dallas, Texas, to attend Chain Store Age’s 49th annual SPECS Conference, March 17-20, at the Hilton Anatole Hotel.   

New York -- Ahold USA, a division of Netherlands-based Royal Ahold, said six newly built stores had received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The locations include four stores in the Stop & Shop New England and New York Metro divisions, one in the Giant-Landover division and one in the Giant-Carlisle division.