Mass Merchant

Amazon.com and Walmart.com both sell products online, but that’s where the similarities end despite frequent efforts to compare the two.

NORWOOD, Mass. — Hot Wheels has entered into a licensing agreement with Toy State, a leading manufacturer of licensed and highly stylized lights-and-sound toy vehicles. 

The agreement, which runs through 2016, gives Toy State the green light to design and build a new line of high-octane custom versions of Hot Wheels remote-controlled and lights-and-sound toys. 

Cicero, Ill. -- The town of Cicero, Ill., and Wal-Mart Stores announced an agreement on Tuesday to build a Walmart Supercenter on a portion of a former racetrack site.

Under the contract, Wal-Mart will pay $7.5 million for 24.67 acres of land at the long-vacant and dilapidated Sportsman’s racetrack to construct a 190,000-sq.-ft. store.

Cicero will continue to own 10 acres of the remaining Sportsman's property, which is reserved for future retail expansion and development.

H&M is finally tackling the online market, and plans to launch an e-commerce site in the U.S. in August.

The timing of the move for a brand synonymous with affordable fashion is opportune because it coincides with the heart of the back-to-school shopping season and sets the stage for the company to drive online sales during the holiday season.

Washington, D.C. – The Retail Industry Leaders Association elected Ron Boire, president of Sears and Kmart, to its board of directors, during its semi-annual meeting in Washington, D.C. 

The board also re-elected Home Depot chair and CEO Francis Blake, 7-Eleven president and CEO Joseph DePinto, Petco CEO James Myers and J.C. Penney CEO Myron Ullman.

San Jose, Calif. -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corp. has been given approval by the bankruptcy court to seek bids from liquidators to run going-out-of-business sales at eight underperforming stores and potentially another 22.

Oklahoma City -- The vast majority (91.4%) of American consumers plan to give up to three retail gift cards as gifts over the next three months, according to survey results released Tuesday by the Retail Gift Card Association.

However, the survey also found that consumers will continue to keep their wallets tight - only 30.6% of respondents would purchase something they would not normally buy. The rest, 69.4%, said they would spend the gift card on something they needed, or put it toward a larger purchase.

BURLINGTON, N.J. — Burlington Coat Factory was the beneficiary of an unseasonably cool first quarter that resulted in soft sales at some other retailers.

The company’s net sales increased 8.4% to nearly $1.1 billion for the quarter from $982 million for the quarter ended April 28, 2012. Comparative store sales increased 3.4%.