Apparel

Dublin, Calif. - Ross Dress for Less will open four new locations in the greater Chicago area on March 8, 2014. These openings bring the total number of Chicago area stores to 35 for the retailer.

Vancouver, Canada – Lululemon Athletica Inc. is reportedly ending its ban on customers who have resold its goods on sites such as EBay and Amazon.com from purchasing items on its e-commerce site. According to Bloomberg, Lululemon instituted the policy to stop consumers from purchasing and reselling merchandise in bulk, but is rescinding it after a large volume of customer complaints.

Toronto - Loblaw Companies Ltd. and its affiliates, the owners of Joe Fresh, have signed three separate partnership agreements that bring the brand into 23 new countries. The agreements cover markets in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South Korea.

Vertical footwear retailer Keds is launching an omnichannel marketing campaign called the “Keds Brave Life Project.” The campaign is aimed at encouraging positive development of girls and young women.

Newport Beach, Calif. -- Engaged Capital, an investment firm specializing in small and mid-cap North American equities and stockholder of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., has named five nominees for the Abercrombie & Fitch board of directors. The nominees are Alexander P. Brick, former CEO of Specialty Retail Group; Robert D. Huth, former CEO of David’s Bridal; Michael W. Kramer, former COO of J.C. Penney; Diane L. Neal, former CEO of Bath & Body Works; and Glenn W. Welling, CIO and managing member of Engaged Capital.

San Jose, Calif. – Sales for Valentine’s Day this year fell prior to the holiday compared to the same period in 2013, but rose on the actual holiday itself, Feb. 14. According to new figures from site analytics provider RetailNext, men’s stores (that have gifts for men) saw decreased (-13.8%) sales the day before Valentine’s, but an increase of +22.2% in sales on Valentine's Day itself in 2014.

Lexington, Mass. – Vertical footwear retailer Keds is launching an omni-channel marketing campaign called the “Keds Brave Life Project.” The campaign is aimed at encouraging positive development of girls and young women.

New York – J. Crew received top ranking among all major U.S. online retailers during the month of January 2014. According to the Stella Monthly Ranking from the StellaService customer service analysis firm, J. Crew, which held this ranking from July-September 2013, took the top spot from L.L.Bean.com, which held it in November and December 2013.