Department Store

Sluggish traffic and weak performance in the consumer electronics segment led Hhgregg to post a 6.3% drop in same store sales in the third quarter.

The retailer reported a loss in profits from the prior year period and missed Wall Street expectations for both profit and revenue. Hhgregg posted a net loss of $86.9 million, compared to net income of $5.05 million, which was a wider loss than projected by analysts.

Menomonee Falls, Wis. – Kohl’s Department Stores will be the exclusive department store retail partner for The Color Run, a national paint race event series. Select Kohl’s stores will serve as the packet pick-up location in more than 100 cities across the county.

Kohl’s will have a social presence at each race and will encourage participants to take and share celebratory photos with their friends and family across social accounts using #MakeYourMove.

As Lowe’s prepares to open its previously announced 25 new stores in Canada during the next three years, speculation is mounting that the retailer could snap up some of Target's locations when the company withdraws from the Canadian market later this year.   But Lowe's is not saying whether three new Lowe's stores set to open later this year in Lethbridge, Saskatoon and Sault Ste. Mari will be located in former Target locations.  

San Mateo, Calif. -- A pair of veteran retailers were among the most popular store sites on Facebook during the 2014 holiday season. Sears was the most popular U.S. department store, while Walmart.com was the most popular mass merchant store site, according to a study by Searchmetrics.

The Searchmetrics study analyzed the number of weekly Facebook likes, comments and shares for pages from the websites of nine top US department stores and three mass merchant stores during November and December 2014.

A bigger push to sell its offerings online helped drive record sales in 2014 for Swedish retailer Hennes & Mauritz, as well as prompt expansion plans for the retailer. 

The Stockholm-based retailer said net profit rose 17% to $760 million in 2014, ahead of analysts’ forecasts. Same store sales increased 26% in 2014, the retailer reported.

Barcelona – Spain-based apparel retailer Mango has recruited Toni Ruiz to become its new CFO effective mid-February. Ruiz, 45, will sit on Mango’s board of directors.

Ruiz has spent much of his professional career at Leroy Merlin, part of Groupe Adeo, where he has worked from 1999 until now, occupying various positions, including financial management in Spain and control and planning at international level.

New York -- In its ongoing efforts to reduce costs, Sears Holding Corp. is cutting jobs.  

The struggling retailer will cuts 115 jobs, including 100 at its Hoffman Estates, Illinois, headquarters, the Chicago Tribune reported.
 
 

New York -- T2, a specialty tea store in the Shoreditch area of London, and designed by Landini Associates, of Sydney, Australia, was named Store of the Year by the Retail Design Institute, whose annual design competition recognized more than 45 retail design projects in 20-plus retail formats for excellence in design and execution. The winning projects were honored at the Institute's 44th Annual Awards Gala, at the TimesCenter Stage, New York City.