Apparel

NEW YORK — Kara Laricks has been named the first winner of NBC's reality competition show, "Fashion Star," and as part of her prize, the designer will launch an exclusive collection at Macy's that is available at 110 Macy's stores across the country and on Macys.com for a limited time.

"We are extremely excited to have NBC's "Fashion Star" winner Kara Laricks collection sold exclusively for Macy's," said Martine Reardon, chief marketing officer for Macy's. "This show has been an amazing

Fort Meyers, Fla. -- Chico's FAS Inc. said Wednesday that its fiscal first-quarter net income rose a better-than-expected 17% to 53.6 million in the three months through April 28, compared with $45.9 million a year ago. The chain also bumped up its revenue outlook for the year.

Revenue rose 21% to $650.8 million, beating expectations, from $537.2 million a year ago. The company September acquisition of women's clothing chain Boston Proper added $33.7 million in sales during the quarter.

As part of Chain Store Age’s lead-up coverage to RECon 2012, to be held May 20-23 in Las Vegas, we talked with Jones Lang LaSalle’s Lew Kornberg about what his expectations are for the big real estate show. Visit JLL’s booth at RECon, Central Hall, C1001.

What are your expectations for RECon 2012 in terms of activity, attitude, priorities?

City of Industry, Calif. -- Hot Topic reported net income in the first fiscal quarter of $3.8 million, compared with a net loss of $7.7 million for the year-ago period. The results include $12.4 million of expenses for the implementation of the strategic business changes and cost reduction plan.

Total sales for the first quarter ended April 28, 2012, increased 6.4% to $171.5 million compared to $161.3 million for the first quarter last year. Same-store sales rose 7.5%.

WASHINGTON — Tanna Dang, a boutique owner in Honolulu, Hawaii was awarded the top $25,000 prize in the National Retail Federation’s inaugural “This is Retail” video contest. Florida’s Kim Williams of The Polka Dot press came in second place and will take home $15,000 and Illinois’ Susan Kaufman will take home $10,000 for third place. Nearly 1 million votes were cast by the public through NRF’s Retail Means Jobs website to choose the contest winners.

Hingham, Mass. -- The Talbots and Sycamore Partners extended the exclusivity period for the private equity firm's non-binding $214.6 million takeover offer to May 22.

Talbots had entered into an exclusivity agreement with Sycamore on May 5, which was due to expire on May 15.

PITTSBURGH — Dick's Sporting Goods has raised its full year and second quarter outlooks after reporting substantial growth in sales and earnings for the first quarter. The company reported that net income for the quarter was $57.2 million, or 45 cents per diluted share, exceeding the company's earnings expectations provided on March 6 of 36 cents to 38 cents per diluted share. For the first quarter ended April 30, 2011, the company reported consolidated net income of $37.5 million, or 30 cents per diluted share.

Washington, D.C. -- A Tuesday report by the Commerce Department showed that U.S. retail sales during the month of April edged up 0.1%, following a 0.7% gain in March and marking the smallest rise of the year so far. The gain was in line with projections.

Excluding auto sales, retail sales climbed 0.1% in April.