Apparel

New York – Saks Inc. plans to open seven new Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th stores in 2014: The Outlets at Bloomfield in Pearl, Miss.; Potomac Mills in Woodbridge, Va.; Palm Beach Outlets in West Palm Beach, Fla; Outlet Shoppes at Louisville/Lexington, Ky.; Twin Cities of Eagan in Minneapolis, Minn.; The Mayfair Collection in Mayfair, Wis.; and Easton Gateway in Columbus, Ohio.

Boston – Rue La La has appointed Robin Domeniconi as chief marketing officer overseeing the company's marketing and creative departments. Domeniconi will report to Steve Davis, CEO of Rue La La.

Domeniconi previously served as chief brand officer for Elle Group, In addition, she has held the position of VP of advertising sales, marketing, and publishing at Microsoft as well as seven-year tenure at Time Inc. where she launched and published Real Simple magazine.

Wayne, N.J. -- Toys "R" U widened its loss in the second quarter on lower sales at its stores in the United States and Europe. The company reported a loss of $113 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $36 million.

Net sales for the quarter, ended August 3, dropped 6.9% to $2.38 billion. Same-store sales declined 3.5% in the U.S. and 3.8% abroad. The retailer attributed the decline primarily to decreases in the juvenile and entertainment (which includes electronics, video game hardware and software) categories.

New York -- Private-equity firm Sycamore Partners disclosed through a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that an affiliate, Hummingbird LLC, had taken an 8% stake in Aeropostale.

Sycamore through its Hummingbird LLC unit, bought about 6.3 million shares of Aeropostale, according to the filing. That would make it the retailer’s fourth-largest shareholder, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans for two new Nordstrom Rack stores, one in Nevada, and the other in Massachusetts.

The retailer said it will open a 36,000-sq.-ft. Nordstrom Rack in fall 2014 at The Shops at Summerlin, a 1.6 million-sq.-ft. mixed-use center in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin.

Dallas -- PeopleAnswers and New York & Company announced a software licensing agreement for the specialty apparel chain with more than 500 stores nationwide to use the PeopleAnswers HR-focused business solution to recommend employee candidates who can guide their customers to make smart fashion purchase decisions.

New York -- Foot Locker, Inc. is introducing Six02.com, the e-retail extension of its Six:02 stores aimed at women. In addition to offering a full assortment of women’s athletic apparel and products, the site features the Get Fit Guide, a custom online tool to lead customers through the product offerings to find the perfect fit, style, and product based on preferred workout activity and body shape.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th plans to open a new store in Aventura, Fla., on Sept. 20.

The store will be located in Town Center Aventura developed in partnership with Turnberry Media and will be the third Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th location in Miami. The 28,000-sq.-ft. layout includes an open floor plan, moveable fixtures and bright lighting.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- HSN has appointed Matthew Rubel, senior advisor with TPG Capital, to its board of directors.

Rubel previously served as chairman, president and CEO of Collective Brands, where he worked from 2005-2011. Before that, his executive roles included serving as president and CEO of Cole Haan from 1999 to 2005, as well as serving as executive VP of J. Crew Group and CEO of Popular Club Plan.

Chicago -- Retail sales are forecast to rise 2.4% during the holiday season of November and December while total retail traffic will decrease 1.4% as compared to the year-ago period, according to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics. The company also notes that retailers have less time to capture peak holiday spending: There are only 25 days lie between Black Friday (Nov. 29) and Christmas this year, compared to 31 days in 2012. And unlike last year, consumers have only four (not five) full weekends to shop.