eCommerce

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings reported Friday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 rose 12.5% to $72.6 million, compared with $64.5 million in the year-ago period.

Revenue increased 6.5% to $664.7 million, from $624.3 million last year. Same-store sales advanced 1.9% in domestic company-owned stores (including online sales).

New York -- Giving a much-needed boost to J.C. Penney Co., George Soros’ Soros Fund Management bought 17.4 million shares of the troubled retailer, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  

The stake, which was seen as a vote of confidence in returning CEO Mike Ullman, makes the billionaire investor the fourth-largest Penney shareholder, with a 7.9% stake.

Sidney, Neb. -- Cabela’s Inc. announced plans to open two new locations, with one in Tualatin, Ore., and the other in the north Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, area.
 
Construction is scheduled to begin this summer on the Canadian outpost, with a spring 2014 opening planned. The 50,000-sq.-ft. store will be located in the Manning Town Centre in north Edmonto.
 

Leesburg, Va. -- Cypress Equities said that Orvis will open a new store at the 1.2 million-sq.-ft. Village at Leesburg mixed-use project in Leesburg, Va.

Orvis will occupy 6,022 sq. ft. in a new 13,000-sq.-ft. retail building currently under construction. Orvis is slated to open in fall 2013.

Tokyo, Japan -- Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group said that, in partnership with Mitsubishi Estate Co., it has opened Shisui Premium Outlets (Shisui Town, Inba District, Chiba Prefecture), the ninth Premium Outlet Center in Japan.
 

Armond, N.Y. -- First quarter online shopping in 2013 grew more than 20% over the same period last year, and more than five times in-store sales growth, helping drive up department store and home goods purchases, according to the IBM Online Retail Index.  
 
The IBM Index comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau report which announced in-store sales for the January through March 2013 period were up 3.7%.

The IBM Online Retail Index also found:

Pinecrest, Fla. -- Terranova Corp. said that it has signed a deal with Spanish restaurant chain 100 Montaditos to open a unit at Suniland Shopping Center, in Pinecrest, Fla.

100 Montaditos has signed a lease for 2,500 sq. ft. in Suniland, where it is projected to open in fourth quarter 2013. It is the third deal Terranova has transacted with 100 Montaditos, which it has signed in Coral Gables’ Miracle Mile and in downtown Miami’s Vizcayne, a condo tower with ground-floor retail.
    

Washington, D.C. -- Douglas Development announced that it has purchased a new mixed-use property in Chinatown DC. The 10,000-sq.-ft. building includes three levels of office space and 4,000 sq. ft. of street-level retail.
     
Douglas Development acquired the property from Washington, D.C.-based law firm Wingfield & Ginsburg, which has since leased back all of the office space from Douglas Development.