eCommerce

Charlotte, N.C. - Resale clothing retailer Buffalo Exchange brings the original concept of buy-sell-trade clothing to Charlotte with the opening of its first North Carolina store, located in the Plaza-Midwood neighborhood at 1521 Central Avenue, in mid-April.

Grapevine, Texas -- GameStop Corp. announced the acquisition of Spawn Labs, a streaming technology company.

In addition, GameStop announced it has entered into an agreement to purchase Impulse, a subsidiary of Stardock Systems, and a leader in digital distribution. The Impulse acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in May.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Overall same-store sales at Rite Aid decreased during March while pharmacy and prescription sales increased, the pharmacy retailer said Thursday.

Compared with last year, front-end same-store sales decreased by 1.8% during the four-week period that ended March 26, which the 4,711-store chain attributed to Easter falling on a later date this year, April 24, than last year, when it occurred on April 4.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Ebay announced that it has added a new feature to Ebay.com that will allow shoppers to check product and merchandise availability at local retailers. The feature is made possible through Ebay's partnership with Milo, the leading local shopping engine that Ebay acquired last year.

In a move to generate online traffic and pre-orders for the upcoming release of Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never documentary, Walmart.com this week offered autographed copies of the DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack for $24.96. Bieber personally autographed 1,800 copies of the combo-pack, which chronicles his rise to become a pop phenomenon. The strategy appeared to work as by mid-day Thursday the autographed copies were no where to be found on Walmart.com, although there was plenty of other Bieber paraphernalia.

Walmart’s past and future collided this week in a stark juxtaposition of events. While the company’s lawyers were engaged in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court stemming from events in the past, senior executive of the international division were gathered with financial analysts in a hotel ballroom in Shenzhen, China to discuss the future.

With 329 stores in China producing $7.5 billion in sales annually, Walmart has experienced dramatic growth since it entered the market in 1996 with two stores. Last year, the company pursued its most aggressive expansion to date with the opening of 49 stores, and at a meeting for financial analysts earlier this week in Shenzhen, China, senior executives detailed plans to get a lot bigger.

Seattle -- Nordstrom announced plans to open a Nordstrom Rack in Boise, Idaho.

The 37,000-sq.-ft. store will be part of the Boise Towne Plaza shopping center and is expected to open in spring 2012.

New York City -- Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, Best Buy and CVS took top honors in Interbrand’s annual ranking of the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands. The U.S. brands are valued in collaboration with Interbrand Design Forum, the retail experience group within Interbrand.

Foxborough, Mass. -- Patriot Place shopping center, located in Foxborough, Mass., announced that Charming Charlie boutique opened today, its first location in Massachusetts.