eCommerce

Francesca’s has tapped David Minnix Jr. as the new VP and head of boutiques. The former chief stores officer at Dots Fashion will start his job overseeing the upscale boutique chain’s operations on July 8.

Minnix has also formerly worked for retailers like Zales and Pearle Vision, and at Dots Fashion oversaw store support and loss prevention departments, among other duties. At Francesca’s Minnix will oversee the company’s 519 boutiques, each of which is meant to feel like an independent shop.

San Bruno, Calif. -- @WalmartLabs, the Silicon Valley-based tech R&D and innovation arm of Wal-Mart Stores, has acquired Stylr, a mobile fashion app that helps shoppers finds clothes in nearby stores. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Stylr is @WalmartLabs' 13th acquisition in the past three years.

Stylr will be shut down and removed from the iTunes App Store by the end of the month. Wal-Mart's own mobile app won't run Stylr, but the newly acquired technology will be used to develop future mobile innovations.

The coming months will see the name “At Home” popping up on 71 Garden Ridge stores in 21 states as the home décor store undergoes a significant rebranding and remerchandising initiative.

Nearly two months after opening up a specialty retail location in New York’s SoHo neighborhood, Under Armour has confirmed that it plans to open in March 2015 its latest Brand House at 600 North Michigan Ave. in Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.

New York -- DSW Inc.'s Affiliated Business Group and Yellow Box Corporation will open the first-ever Yellow Box store on June 20, at The Falls Shopping Center in Miami. The store opens on June 20.

New York -- Michaels Cos. seeking as much as $528 million in its U.S. initial public offering, Bloomberg reported. The arts and crafts retailer is offering 27.8 million shares at $17 to $19 each, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.
 
The IPO is being managed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Michaels was taken private in 2006 by Bain Capital and Blackstone Group in a $6 billion leveraged buyout. Each firm will own 40% of the company after the offering, the report said.

DSW’s Affiliated Business Group (ABG) division and Yellow Box Corporation have partnered to open a Yellow Box concept store at The Falls Shopping Center in Miami, Florida, Friday, June 20.

Yellow Box plans to host a grand opening event with Lucky Magazine on the afternoon of Saturday, June 28. The company also plans to open two additional stores in Southern California at the Topanga  and Sherman Oaks shopping centers in August.

Yellow Box is a leading women's footwear wholesaler notable for jeweled sandals and fashion footwear for women.

Who doesn’t have a website these days? Plenty of small business, according to Go Daddy, the domain name registrar looking to convince investors of its untapped growth potential ahead of a public stock offering.

Even though Go Daddy already has 57 million domain names under management and 12 million customers, the company contends only about half of the nation’s 28 million small businesses have a Web site. In addition, Go Daddy’s 57 million domain’s represent about 21% of the 270 million domain names registered world wide.