Department Store

San Francisco – Gap Inc. substantially improved upon its June 2012 same-store sales performance and beat analyst expectation with a 7% increase in same-store sales last month. In comparison, the retailer’s same-store sales were flat in June of last year and were only expected to rise 4.7% in June of this year, according to estimates from Retail Metrics.

Sales at Gap’s Old Navy helped drive the overall increase. Same-store sales at Old Navy rose 13% in June as a result of seasonal summer promotions.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Big Lots EVP and CMO John C. Martin has announced his plans to retire. He will remain with the company until his successor is appointed, and has committed to provide guidance to his successor and the company through May 2014.  

Big Lots has retained SpencerStuart to conduct a search of external potential candidates.

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Consumers will spend the same or more on back-to-school shopping this year as they did last year and many will also finish back-to-school shopping early.

A survey Meijer conducted of its customers reveals 90% of shoppers plan to spend the same or more than they did last year and 40% will have completed their back-to-school shopping before the school year begins. Median spend will range between $101-$150 per student and $201-$250 in total.

New York -- Fashion designer and retailer Kenneth Cole is partnering with the Tony Award-winning musical Kinky Boots on the launch of a limited-edition capsule shoe collection arriving in stores for the holiday season.

To promote the launch, a designated area in front of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street in Manhattan) will encourage passersby to try and win a pair of Kinky Boots tickets by following @kennethcoleprd and @kinkybootsbway and Instagraming a photo of their "kinky" shoes using #KCKinkyboots.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Meijer conducted a survey of its customers, which revealed that 90% of them plan to spend the same or more than they did last year and 40% will have completed their back-to-school shopping before the school year begins. 

Median spend will range between $101-$150 per student and $201-$250 in total. In addition, 15% of parents expect students to help pay for a portion of school expenses and nearly 30% will get help from grandparents.

Hilton Head Island, S.C. -- Shelter Cove Towne Centre, an outdoor mall now under construction, has taken a bold step to engage the surrounding Hilton Head Island community — both residents and visitors. It has set up shop on a crowd-sourcing website called Popularise and asked Hilton Head residents to suggest tenants for the 290,000-sq.-ft. property.

Columbus, Ohio – John C. Martin, executive VP and chief merchandising officer of Big Lots Inc., intends to retire his position with the company. Martin will continue in his current capacity until his successor is appointed, and he has committed to provide guidance through May 2014.

Big Lots has retained SpencerStuart to conduct a search of external candidates to succeed Martin.

Washington, D.C. -- A first-of-its-kind document could go a long way toward cementing the sustainability relationship between retailer tenants and their shopping center landlords.