Retail

Dallas -- The Army & Air Force Exchange Service announced a refresh of the organization’s official website, Shopmyexchange.com, in preparation for the key holiday selling season.
 
Improvements include a new homepage layout design, complete with an updated visual look and industry-standard navigation; more product categories; easy-to-find links to specialty stores and online mall vendors; improved product pages; and easier checkout.
 

New York -- J.C. Penney on Thursday said that reports claiming CIT Group Inc., the largest lender in the apparel industry, had stopped funding some shipments to Penney were untrue. The retailer said it has plenty of cash on hand and all major suppliers were still shipping.

“J.C. Penney continues to have the support of all of its key vendors, who have maintained their shipments to the company," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

New York -- H&M has launched online shopping in the United States, effective Aug. 1. In addition to offering the same merchandise as in-store and some exclusive “online only” items, the site marks the debut of the H&M Home collection, available exclusively online.

New York -- HH Gregg saw a significant improvement in its financial results for the three-month period ended June 30. Despite a net loss of $1.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, the specialty retailer narrowed the gap from a net loss of $5.7 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, for the comparable prior-year period.

The decrease in net loss for the three month period ended June 30, 2013 was due, in part, to a comparable-store sales increase of 0.8%, offset by a decrease in gross profit as a percentage of net sales.

Berlin, N.J. — A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts will mark the opening of its new store at The Town Center at St. Lucie West with a week long grand opening celebration starting Aug. 4.

The 21,000-sq.-ft. store carries an arts and crafts merchandise assortment with more than 40,000 items.

A.C. Moore operates about 140 arts and craft stores along the East Coast.
 

New York — The Feil Organization has named industry veteran Nicholas Forelli Director of Retail Leasing.

In his new role, Forelli will focus on Feil’s leasing efforts throughout the metropolitan area, including New York City, Long Island and New Jersey. Chief among his projects will be Glen Oaks Shopping Center in Queens, working with Briskin on the redevelopment of Concourse Plaza in the Bronx, smaller retail projects around the metro area, as well as One & Olney Square in Philadelphia.

New York -- AT&T unveiled its newest store design, at a new location in LaGrange, Ill. The store is built around the customer experience, with a goal of providing a glimpse of what the future of retail will look like. The new design will be rolled out at new and redesigned store locations across the country, and continuing into 2014. (For a video tour of the store, click here.)

Walldorf, Germany -- SAP AG and Hybris announced that SAP has completed the acquisition of Hybris, a leader in commerce technology. The two companies said they plan to combine the omni-channel commerce solutions of Hybris with robust enterprise technology and in-memory, cloud and mobile innovations from SAP to help facilitate new levels of customer insight and engagement.