Apparel

Walmart and Target should see an influx of parents in the coming months, as both retailers topped the list of where consumers plan to do most of their back-to-school shopping this year, according to The NPD Group.

NPD asked the the open-end question:  “Where do you plan to do most of the back to school shopping for your child(ren)?" Out of 1,760 mentions of retailers where parents plan to do back to school shopping on behalf of their kids, Walmart secured 36% of them, followed by Target at 20%.

New York -- Sycamore Partners extended its tender offer to buy The Talbots Inc. to Aug. 2. It is the second extension given by Sycamore to the retailer.

The private equity firm said in May that it would buy Talbots for $193.3 million. The tender offer was previously scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. ET on July 27.

NEW YORK — Gap has launched its Shine On campaign, which features a ballerina, comedian, DJ, violinist and anti-bullying advocate alongside the winners of Gap’s sixth annual casting call contest.

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Taubman Centers, Inc. has officially broken ground on its new Taubman Prestige Outlets Chesterfield project by hosting a groundbreaking ceremony on July 27.

As part of the ceremony, Taubman revealed a variety of store names that will make their debuts at the new outlet mall, among them Banana Republic Factory Store, Gap Outlet, J. Crew Factory, Brooks Brothers Factory Store, 2b Bebe, American Eagle Outfitters - Off Campus, and Sunglass Hut.

Pittsburgh -- First Insight, which provides predictive analytics generated from online consumer engagements, announced an agreement with The Limited. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The First Insight solution uses online social engagement tools to gather real-time preference, pricing and sentiment data on new products. This information is filtered through First Insight’s predictive analytic models to determine which products present the greatest opportunity.

William Kenneth Butler, COO of the 1,985 unit Aaron’s rent-to-own retail chain, received a lifetime achievement award from the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations (APRO).

Butler was selected as the 2012 recipient of the Ernie Tally Lifetime Achievement Award for an exemplary career spanning nearly four decades.

HAMILTON, BERMUDA — Specialty retail jeweler, Signet Jewelers, has named a Procter & Gamble executive to its board of directors.

Virginia Drosos, group president global beauty, skin, cosmetics and personal care for Procter & Gamble, who will retire from this position effective Sept. 1, joined the Signet board on July 25.

PLANO, Texas — When JCPenney first announced its “fair and square” pricing strategy back in January with a great deal of hoopla and fanfare -- complete with a NYC media event attended by 700 people -- there was much hope that former Apple executive CEO Ron Johnson and then president Michael Francis, formerly at Target, would be able to bring some of their retail magic to the stagnant retailer.