Mass Merchant

H&M’s new Fifth Avenue flagship in Manhattan is the fast-fashion giant’s largest store in the world, a whopping 57,000 sq. ft. Beyond its sheer size, the store breaks new ground for the Swedish retailer in a number of other ways. Here are five big ones:

Hoffman Estates, Ill. – ShopYourWay, the digital loyalty, marketing and shopping platform of Sears and Kmart, is partnering with YouTube celebrities Ricky Dillon and Jenn McCallister. The two social media stars will serve as “curators of cool” on the Shop Your Way site.

Dillon and McCalister collaborated with Shop Your Way to deliver their first semester fashion picks, creating catalogs members can like, follow and share. They have nearly 10 million fans combined on social media networks such as YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

New York -- Walmart announced in a post on its corporate blog that its store-brand MasterCard holders can expect to receive a new chip-enabled card in the "next few weeks." The discounter said it is among the first retailers to implement chip technology as a more secure payment means for cardholders. It also noted in the post that Sam's CLub introduced a chip-enabled MasterCard in June. Both cards prompt customers not to swipe – but to insert and briefly leave the card in the payment terminal, so the card’s embedded chip can be accessed.

Arlington, Va. -- The president of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Sandy Kennedy, has sent a letter to the heads of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) urging them to remain focused on securing a new, long-term contract in the immediate future to ensure stability at the west coast ports. The letter reflects the growing angst among the retail community over the lack of a new agreement.

Chicago – QVC received top ranking in the Mobile Customer Experience Index from The E-tailing Group. QVC scored 84.17 on a 100-point scale, with the average score being 71.5.

New York -- Saks Fifth Avenue will open a three-level, 107,000-sq.-ft. store in Brickell City Centre, Miami.

The store, scheduled to open in fall 2016, will help anchor the mixed-use development, which is currently under construction. The project includes residential, office and hotel space, along with a 565,000-sq.-ft. shopping center.

New York -- Aeropostale Inc. on Thursday reported a second-quarter loss that was less than the Wall Street expected. It also forecast a bigger-than-expected loss for the current quarter.
 
Aeropostale, which has lost money for seven consecutive quarters, reported a net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 of $63.8 million, compared to a loss of $33.7 million in the year-ago period.

New York -- Dollar Tree Inc. reported that net income in the second quarter dipped 2.6% to $121.5 million, from $124.7 million a year earlier, amid higher freight costs and investments in higher-value products.

Revenue rose 9.5% to $2.03 billion, and same-store sales increased 4.5%, beating Wall Street estimates of a 2.5% rise. It was the chain’s26th consecutive quarter of positive comparable store sales growth.