Retail

New York -- J.Crew Group Inc. expects to open 46 stores in 2013, company officials said during its quarterly conference call.
 
The specialty retailer will open 17 Madewell stores, 13 factory outlet units and 16 namesake locations, including its first-ever store in Europe, in London.
  
For the fourth quarter, J.Crew’s earnings were up 18% to $70.4 million. Same-store sales rose 11%.

OAK BROOK, Ill. — Ace Hardware Corp. posted fiscal 2012 revenues of $3.8 billion, up 3.6% from the previous year. 

The co-op’s net income of $81.8 million increased 5.3% for the year.

“We are very pleased with our fiscal 2012 results as revenues and net income were both higher than last year and our plan,” said Ray Griffith, Ace CEO, who will be replaced by John Venhuizen as CEO, effective March 31.

By Kris Bjorson, [email protected]

Coupon publisher News America Marketing has expanded its mobile application to the iPhone following last year’s introduction on the iPad.

Mobile coupons still have a long way to go before unseating the conventional print circular, but innovative solutions such as the SmartSource Xpress, or SSX, are helping accelerate the pace of change by enabling brands to put coupons directly into shoppers’ hands via their mobile device.

Bossier City, La. -- Covington, La.-based Stirling Properties said that it has been retained to provide comprehensive property and construction management and office leasing services for Louisiana Boardwalk, a 562,250-sq.-ft. retail/mixed-use development on the waterfront of Bossier City, La.

Garrison Investment Group of New York City recently acquired Louisiana Boardwalk and will re-launch the retail center as The Outlets at Louisiana Boardwalk.

Sam’s Club this week opened a new 136,000-sq.-ft. club adjacent to a Walmart supercenter in La Marque, Texas.

The club, built in 1991, was relocated from neighboring Texas City. The communities are located along I-45 southeast of Houston en route to the coastal community of Galveston. The new club, Sam’s first of the year, is one of an expected 15 to 20 new units this year that mark Sam’s most aggressive expansion in roughly a decade. Sam’s ended last year with 620 clubs and sales of $56.4 billion.

Huntsville, Ala. -- Birmingham, Ala.-based Bayer Properties said it has been engaged by Institutional Mall Investors to oversee management of Bridge Street Town Centre, a mixed-use outdoor fashion center in Huntsville, Ala. IMI’s assets now represent 2 million sq. ft. of Bayer’s 12 million-sq.-ft. owned and managed portfolio.

NEW YORK — More than half of consumers believe that apps are not expensive, according to a new survey by consulting firm Simon-Kucher & Partners. 

“It takes a long time to upgrade free users to the paid product and app makers need to strike a better balance between free and paid offerings. It needs more time and management attention to get right.”