Department Store

Grand Rapids, Mich. -- Meijer is preparing to hire thousands of new team members for its stores in response to company growth and in preparation for the fall and holiday selling seasons. While staffing needs vary from store to store, all Meijer stores have positions available. Broken down by state, Meijer plans 4,400 new hires in Michigan, 1,800 in Indiana, 1,600 in Ohio, 900 in Illinois and 500 in Kentucky.

New York City -- Fashion retailer Marc Jacobs will enter the beauty category with his first store dedicated to cosmetics and beauty items.

The nearly 500-sq.-ft. store has opened at 385 Bleecker Street in Manhattan and, according to a Women’s Wear Daily report, will showcase the designer’s 121-SKU color cosmetics collection, as well as his fragrances with Coty Prestige. 


Global fragrance leader Elizabeth Arden cited curtailed orders at a mass market customer as a factor in its weaker-than-expected full year financial results, and the finger was quickly pointed at Walmart.

Plano, Texas -- According to multiple reports on Thursday, J.C. Penney will replace Myron “Mike” Ullman as CEO, and the search pace is being pressured by top investor Bill Ackman.

Penney, which has not commented on the reports, is being pushed to name a new CEO in 30 to 45 days, revealed in a letter Ackman sent to the retailer’s board of directors. Ackman also told board members that former Penney CEO Allen Questrom would return as chairman if the retailer chose a new CEO he liked.

Reston, Va. -- Desktop-based e-commerce sales totaled $49.8 billion in the U.S. during the second quarter of this year. According to a new report from comScore, this represents an almost 16% increase from about $43.1 billion in the second quarter of the previous year.

This also marks the 15th consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and 11th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. Mobile commerce spending rose by $4.7 billion, or 24%, during the quarter. Other highlights of comScore’s data include:

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. reported net sales of $3.87 billion for the second quarter of 2013, up 8% from $3.58 billion for the second quarter last year. Net sales for July of this year totaled $1.12 billion, close to 6% higher than $1.06 billion in July of the previous year.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Strong sales in linens, dresses and intimate apparel buoyed Stein Mart’s total sales for the second quarter ended August 3, which increased 3.8% to $290.9 million from $280.4 million for the same quarter last year. 

The company posted a comparable-store sales increase of 6.4% for the quarter. 

New York -- A group of 11 large U.S. retailers that report same-store sales results each month had a generally strong showing in July. However, Thomson Reuters analysis indicates significant discounting helped drive an overall 4.4% increase, more than double the 1.4% same-store sales rise recorded in July of last year.