Apparel

New York -- Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s founder, Dennis "Chip" Wilson, reached an agreement to sell half his stake in the women's yoga-wear company to Advent International of Boston for $845 million. The deal will give Advent, which owned shares of Lululemon from 2005 to 2009 and was one of the company's early venture capital backers, 20.1 million shares, or 13.9% of the company (Lululemon went public in 2009). It also gives Advent two seats on the board, including Advent's managing partner David Mussafer, who will become co-chairman of the retailer.

As the start of the school year gets closer, Kids Foot Locker has joined forces with Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul, widely known by fans, media and fellow athletes as CP3, to promote the store’s line of Jordan products.
 
A new commercial, produced by BBDO and slated to start airing on children’s networks Aug. 8, features Paul taking photos with young basketball players wearing Jordan gear.

Banana Republic in late August will extend its digital reach as part of a select group of brands partnering with Instagram on paid advertising — a first-time amplification for the brand on the platform.

Gap posted positive comps in July for the four-week period ended August 2, buoyed by sales at Banana Republic; but preliminary second-quarter results show that comparable store sales were flat compared to the same period last year.

Net sales in July increased 5% to $1.17 billion compared with net sales of $1.12 billion for the four-week period ended August 3. For the second quarter, Gap Inc.’s net sales increased 3% to $3.98 billion compared with $3.87 billion for the second quarter last year.

A more cautious consumer led to weaker-than-anticipated traffic at Hibbett in the second quarter, prompting the sporting goods retailer to revise its earnings expectations for the full year.

Net sales for the 13-week period ended August 2 are expected to increase 4.2% to $194 million compared with $186.2 million for the year-ago period. Comparable store sales are expected to increase 0.1% for the quarter.

Seattle - Amazon.com has expanded same-day delivery in Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., metro areas, with more than a million eligible items now available for same-day delivery. These six cities join the existing same-day delivery-eligible cities of Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco and Seattle.

San Francisco -- Banana Republic in late August will extend its digital reach as part of a select group of brands partnering with Instagram on paid advertising — a first-time amplification for the brand on the platform.

New York -- Costco Wholesale Corp. fell slightly short of estimates in July even as most other retailers who still report same-store monthly sales outperformed expectations.

The warehouse club giant reported a 5% rise in same-store sales for July, excluding gasoline, falling short of estimates for a 5.7% increase. The company said foreign currencies had a slightly negative impact. It was the first time in five months that Costco's sales have increased less than expected. Costco's total revenue for the month increased 9% to $8.55 billion.

New York – Ann Inc. expects to report a 2.3% decline in consolidated same-store sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2014. Total company net sales are now expected to be $648 million.

Austin, Texas – Zales has the highest annual percentage rate (APR) on its private label card out of 61 U.S. retailers surveyed by CreditCards.com. According to the study, the retailers with the five highest maximum APRs are:

1. Zales, up to a 28.99% APR;
2. Office Depot Personal Credit, up to a 27.99% APR;
3. Staples Personal Account, up to a 27.99% APR;
4. My Best Buy, up to a 25.24% and 27.99% APR, depending on your credit score; and