Discount Store

The Hub Magazine has awarded Kmart’s pun-drenched campaign, “Ship My Pants,” best of show honors in its third annual Hub Prize competition. Draftfcb Chicago was the agency for the campaign.

“Ship My Pants prevailed because it solved a problem for shoppers — out-of-stocks — with a truly meaningful promise: If you can’t find what you’re looking for in our stores, you can order the item online, on-the-spot, and have it shipped, free-of-charge, to your home,” said Hub Magazine founder Tim Manners.

New York -- Retailers reported somewhat disappointing same-store sales for September.  While only a handful of chains still report their monthly revenues, the tepid results of those that do raised concerns about the upcoming holiday season.
    
Gap Inc. reported that its same-store sales in September 2013 net sales were down 3% versus a 6% increase for September 2012. Net sales were flat compared with last year, totaling $1.46 billion compared with net sales of $1.45 billion for the year-ago period.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar hit a major milestone in its history on Thursday as the company opened its 8,000th store, in Lancaster, S.C.  

Fred’s saw positive performance in its general merchandise and pharmacy departments, which lead to sales of $177.3 million in September, an increase of 4% over September 2012.

The Memphis, Tenn.-based company, which operates 702 stores in the South, said same-store sales increased by 2.8%, compared with a 3.8% decrease last year.

For the year to date, sales were $1.3 billion, a 1% increase over $1.3 billion during the same period last year. Same-store sales increased by 0.8%, compared with a 1.2% decrease last year.

Thorofare, N.J. -- Checkpoint Systems announced that Family Dollar Stores has entered into a multi-year agreement that includes the deployment of Checkpoint's electronic article surveillance solutions in all of its existing and future stores.

The rollout in the chain's existing 7,900 stores is expected to be completed by December 2014.

New York -- Family Dollar saw strong growth in refrigerated and frozen food, health aids and tobacco, which buoyed sales in consumables to 8.3% for the fourth quarter ended Aug. 31. Despite the increase, comparable store sales for the quarter were flat. 

The company’s total net sales for the quarter increased 5.8% to $2.5 billion compared with total net sales of $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012. However, customer traffic and the average customer transaction value were flat during the quarter. 

Shopper activity decreased this September, in line with ShopperTrak’s predictions. Total retail store shopper traffic for the month decreased 20.2% compared to August. In a year-over-year comparison, shopper traffic for September 2013 decreased 6.9% compared to the same month last year.

Back-to-school shopping activity that peaked in August slowed as school came back in session. The early Labor Day (Sept. 2) compounded the reduction in September’s shopper activity by combining two normally distinct shopping opportunities into just one.

Bryn Mawr, Pa. — Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has opened at Boardman Plaza in Youngstown, Ohio, according to WP Realty, the center’s owner.

Boardman Plaza is a 625,000-sq.-ft. center and home to national, regional and local tenants including Burlington Coat Factory, Hobby Lobby, Save A Lot, Planet Fitness, Michaels, giant Eagle and Rite Aid.