Apparel

New York -- Foot Locker said that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Runners Point Group, the specialty athletic store and online retailer based in Recklinghausen, Germany. The results of the two companies will be combined with an effective date of July 7, 2013.

Runners Point Group operates more than 200 athletic retail stores, principally in Germany under the Runners Point and Sidestep banners, as well as an online business. It had sales in 2012 of $254 million.

LOS ANGELES — Virtual Piggy has integrated its youth-friendly payment system with Claire’s Stores’ e-commerce website at www.claires.com.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — Staples is taking a page from retailers like Macy’s and turning to social media as it gears up for the back-to-school shopping season as it encourages students to follow Staples on Facebook and Twitter with hashtag #StaplesHasIt.

New York -- A group of 17  North American retailers, including Walmart, J.C. Penney, Gap, Target and Macy’s, on Wednesday announced a five-year safety pact aimed at improving conditions in garment factories in Bangladesh. It calls for inspecting all factories that supply their garments within a year, and an agreement to set up basic safety standards within three months.

The announcement by the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety comes after a separate safety plan was announced on Monday by a group of mostly European companies.

SAN FRANCISCO — Banana Republic has been named the formal attire supplier for Oracle Team USA as it defends its title at the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco Bay in Sept.

NEW YORK — Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th is opening its third store in metropolitan Atlanta, but the 28,000-sq.-ft. space at the Outlet Shoppes of Atlanta at Woodstock will be the first modeled after the company’s “luxury-in-a-loft” design.

Purchase, N.Y. -- Chipotle Mexican Grill has opened at Orange Plaza, an 815,000-sq.-ft. Middletown, N.Y. power-center owned by National Realty & Development Corp.

Orange Plaza’s anchors include a Wal-Mart Supercenter, The Home Depot, Kohl’s Department Store, Burlington Coat Factory, Marshalls, Bed Bath & Beyond and Staples.

The center draws shoppers from a 12-mile radius with a population of more than 157,000. Approximately 20,000 of the 46,000 vehicles passing the center every day are shopping center destination trips.

Madrid, Spain – Spanish apparel retailer Grupo Cortefiel is supporting growth across multiple fast-moving product categories and Springfield, Cortefiel, women’secret and Pedro el Hierro retail brands using product lifecycle management (PLM) technology from Centric Software Inc. Grupo Cortefiel will deploy the Centric PLM suite to users in its costing, design, product development and product management departments.