Consumer Electronics

Grapevine, Texas -- GameStop Corp. reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended July 30 dropped 23% to $30.9 million, compared with $40.3 million in the year-ago period. The company cited slowing video game sales for the lackluster performance.

Revenue fell 3% to $1.74 billion, missing expectations, and same-store sales dropped 9.1%.
 

WASHINGTON — A survey released Thursday by the National Retail Federation found that nearly one third of tablet owners will use the device to purchase back-to-school items.

According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School and College surveys conducted by BIGresearch, consumers with smartphones and tablets will use their devices to research products, redeem coupons, look up store information, and even make purchases.

Dedham, Mass. -- Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based WS Development said that J. Crew has opened at Legacy Place, located in Dedham, Mass.

The 6,000-sq.-ft. J.Crew is located near Sephora, Apple, and Williams-Sonoma and adjacent to Brooks Brothers, Johnston & Murphy and Orvis.

Opened in 2009, Legacy Place is anchored by Whole Foods Market, L.L. Bean, Showcase Cinema de Lux, and Kings.
 

Cleveland -- Forest City Commercial Management, in partnership with FaceCake Marketing Technologies, said it is previewing a new technology at three of its California shopping centers that allows mall shoppers to try on a vast inventory of clothing and accessories from multiple stores via the first full-motion, 3D, real-time virtual dressing room.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. — It has been a rough couple years for retailers, and no segment has been hit harder than office products, which has suffered a double whammy from the downturn in consumer and business spending. Staples, long the leader in the office products industry, has fared better than rivals Office Depot and OfficeMax, and its dominance was evident again on Wednesday, even if the second quarter results the company reported were uninspiring.

Stirling Properties, the developer of River Chase Shopping Center in the south Louisiana community of Covington, announced that Sam’s Club is coming to the center, planning a fall 2012 opening for the new 136,000-sq.-ft. warehouse club.

The largest open-air retail center in St. Tammany Parish, the 640,000-sq.-ft. River Chase is currently anchored by Target, Belk, J.C. Penney. Best Buy, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less and a 14-screen Hollywood Theater.

MINNEAPOLIS — Customers can save on back-to-school shopping by trading in used electronics and video games for store credit, Target said.

The mass merchandiser said it expanded its Electronics Trade-In service to 1,490 stores with Target Mobile centers, and also added new product categories. The chain offers the program under a partnership with consumer electronics upgrade and trade-in company NextWorth, giving customers credit in return. The service is accepting calculators, DVDs, video games, Nintendo DS units, cell phones, iPods and iPads.

South Denver’s Park Meadows regional mall is officially 15 years old -- and it is celebrating throughout the month of August with free community entertainment and activities, culminating in a free community pancake breakfast August 30, 2011.