eCommerce

CORTE MADERA, Calif. — Restoration Hardware is a company one tends to associate with high-end home furnishings, but the company is expanding into new territory. RH recently launched Hierarchy — an apparel, accessories and footwear brand — and has edited its executive leadership team as a result.

Chicago -- Online grocer Peapod is taking its “virtual grocery store” concept on the road in a new promotional campaign. The company unveiled the concept at commuter rail stations in Chicago and the Northeast less than a year ago,

Peapod, a division of Ahold USA, will field trucks installed with digital billboards of grocery aisles at community recreation centers, coffee sleeves at local cafes, concert venues and other places.  

Corte Madera, Calif. – Gary Friedman, chairman emeritus of Restoration Hardware, has been named chairman of the board and co-CEO. Friedman, former co-CEO of Restoration Hardware, will serve with co-CEO Carlos Alberini.

Parsippany, N.J. -- Budget Car Rental and Simon Property Group have combined forces to market to Latin American travelers. When these travelers book a Budget car in Boston, Miami, New York City and Orlando, they will receive a shopping voucher that can be redeemed for a package of coupons, discounts and other special offers at Simon destinations in those cities:

Burlington Mall and Wrentham Village Premium Outlets in Boston

Dadeland Mall, The Falls, Miami International Mall and Sawgrass Mills in Miami

Peru tends to be a logical new market for many Chilean retailers and Walmart will be next, according to unconfirmed reports from a company executive who spoke to Reuters.

The news agency this week said Walmart, which is already one of the leading retailers in Chile, will begin work this year to open stores in Peru and plans to form a local management team. As expected, Walmart denied the report but did acknowledge it planned to run a quality assurance office in Peru for procuring products.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax is taking its new Business Solutions Center store concept to Chicago’s business-rich Streeterville neighborhood later this summer. The retailer opened its first center in Milwaukee back in April to test the pilot concept. 

The currently unoccupied street-level location at 550 St. Clair St. will give the retailer 3,900-sq.-ft. of retail space where it will be able to showcase business services, solutions and products to help local entrepreneurs grow their businesses. 

Brooklyn, Ohio – The Weiss family, which founded the public American Greetings greeting card company is now looking to take it private. As reported by Reuters, the Weiss family is raising an existing buyout offer of $18.20 per share to $19 per share.

The increased offer was contained in a regulatory filing made July 1.
 

Having past the calendar’s mid-point, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the most viewed stories of the year to date on ChainStoreAge.com. (Based on the results,  the ongoing saga of J.C. Penney remains the industry's biggest story.) Here are the Top 10 stories of the first six months: