Retail

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation said the retail industry added 37,000 jobs in the month of July, with increases in general merchandise, food and beverage and building and garden supply stores.

SALT LAKE CITY — Overstock.com is extending its limited-time book sale promotion, pricing books at least 10% below Amazon's prices. The online retailer will keep prices at that level one more week.

"This promotion is so successful we've chosen to extend it," said CEO Patrick M. Byrne. "We are already, on average, 9% cheaper than Amazon on other products we carry, so this just seems like the natural next step. It's a great time to be shopping for a book."

New York -- Rabeanco, known for quality leather accessories and fashion forward styles, opened its first American storefront, in the Westfield Santa Anita Mall, Arcadia, Calif. It is the first of three U.S. locations the company plans to open in 2013.  

Designed by Rabeanco in collaboration with interior designer Yukiharu Takematsu, the 2,000-sq.-ft. store has a modern, chic interior. A 7-ft.-high video display flashes various product and glossy ad campaign images.

New York -- Households with school-age children (pre-kindergarten through 12th grade) plan a big cut-back in back-to-school spending. Results of the 2013 Brand Keys Back to School Report Card show that there will be a year-over-year decrease of 10% in back-to-school spending, or an average spend this year of just more than $600 per household.

However, not every retailer will experience a decline in back-to-school profits. This year, the eight retailers showing the greatest increase in consumer intent-to-shop were:

1. Amazon

“Retail sales” ranked fourth on this year’s list of the top consumer complaints compiled by the Consumer Federation of America. That’s good news for Walmart.
 

Woonsocket, RI – CVS Caremark Corporation has reached an agreement in principle to pay a fine of USD $20 million to resolve an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into certain public disclosures, securities transactions and aspects of the purchase accounting adjustment related to the October 2008 Longs Drug Stores acquisition the company made during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.

Dallas — CBRE’s National Retail Investment Group www.cbre.com has arranged the sale of Cottonwood Commons on behalf of Columbus Pacific Properties www.columbuspacific.com. The 191,893-sq.-ft. Class A retail center in Albuquerque sold to Cole Real Estate Investments www.colecapital.com.

Scanbuy, Inc. released a quarterly trend report showing continued rapid growth of QR code and UPC mobile barcode scanning traffic. The report shows more than 21 million scans processed in the second quarter of 2013 — good news for retailers who are upgrading their mobile capabilities.