Retail

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Cold weather affected Hibbett Sports' first quarter results for the period ended May 4, but the sporting goods retailer still saw net sales of $240 million, a 3% increase from $233 million for the 13-week period ended April 28, 2012.

Comparable store sales increased 0.8% for the quarter.

For the quarter, Hibbett opened nine new stores, expanded five high performing stores and closed three underperforming stores, bringing the store base to 879 in 29 states.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kroger's mid-south division president John Hackett is retiring, after 50 years of service with the company. Hackett began his career with Kroger in 1963 as a store clerk in London, Ohio, while working his way through college at The Ohio State University.

WTI expects that retail June 2013 will be similar in temperature to last year for the U.S. as a whole. Warmer temperature trends on the East and West Coasts will offset cooler year-over-year trends in the nation’s mid-section. Warmer year-over-year trends will be prominent during the first half of the retail month, with colder year-over-year trends during the latter part of the month. The weather will be unsettled weather in the Plains with cooler days and increased risks for rain and severe weather compared to last year.

ALLEN, Texas — PFSweb, an international provider of end-to-end e-commerce solutions, has appointed Shin Nagakura to the company’s board of directors.

Nagakura is a director of Transcosmos, or TCI, a leading Japanese business process outsourcing company. His appointment fulfills a condition of the strategic relationship that TCI and PFSweb entered into on May 15, which states that a TCI representative must sit on PFSweb’s board.

CINCINNATI — Kroger plans to provide $2.3 million to support the USO's broad range of programs that assist service members and their families, as part of its Honoring Our Heroes campaign.

For the following two weeks, store-wide promotions will feature hundreds of popular products at special sale prices. Customized shelf tags will highlight participating items, including Kroger's own products and items from key partners, including Unilever, Coca Cola, Kraft, Nestle, Frito Lay, Procter & Gamble, ConAgra and Dannon. Start and end dates vary by region.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Responding to Monday’s tornado in the Oklahoma City area, Walgreens mobilized increased shipments of essential supplies to its area stores, made an initial donation of three semi-trailers of food, water and first aid supplies to the Oklahoma chapter of the American Red Cross and offered customers an opportunity to make donations at its Oklahoma drugstores.

How does a company whose strengths are more on the creative and design side than the technology side achieve strategic agility through the use of IT? According to Michael Relich, executive VP and CIO of vertical apparel retailer Guess, a flexible approach that focuses more on solving business problems than on meeting technical specifications goes a long way toward getting the most business value from your IT investments.

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — Kohl’s has made a $250,000 cash donation to the American Red Cross, toward tornado relief efforts in Moore, Okla., and the surrounding area. The American Red Cross is delivering emergency supplies and services to the tornado-impacted areas.