Mass Merchant

REDMOND, Wash. — Best Buy has landed a partnership with Microsoft Corp. that will allow the retailer to offer a Windows Store at 500 of its locations in the U.S. and more than 100 Future Shop locations in Canada.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Shoe Carnival has appointed Kent Zimmerman as VP of e-commerce. Zimmerman will oversee the company’s e-commerce and omnichannel strategies.

Toronto -- Canada’s second-biggest supermarket operator has acquired Safeway’s Canadian portfolio of stores in a $5.7 billion deal that pulls the Pleasanton, Calif., chain completely out of the country.

Sobeys, a unit of Empire Co. Lt., has acquired 213 grocery stores, 62 fuel stations, 10 liquor stores, 12 manufacturing facilities and four DCs, leaving Safeway with 1,400 stores in the U.S. after the deal.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse Inc. reported Wednesday that net income for the first quarter rose 23% to $33.1 million, from $26.9 million last year.  

Sales for the company that runs Men’s Wearhouse namesake stores, along with the Moores and K&G chains, increased 5.1% to $616.5 million, beating Wall Street’s expected $604.7 million in revenue. Same-store sales rose 7.1% at namesake stores, but slid 5.3% at K&G.

FREMONT — Net sales at Men's Wearhouse's flagship brand stores got off to a slow start, but clothing and tuxedo revenues picked up, allowing the company to see total net sales of $617 million for the first quarter ended May 4, an increase of 5% from $587 million for the quarter last year.  

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Red Legacy, a commercial real estate developer for shopping centers, has hired Stacy Scheelk as its new senior director of new business development.

Scheelk is a shopping industry expert with a background in local, regional and national business development and marketing. She will be charged elevating and maximizing the potential of each development by fomenting partnerships, securing sponsorships, creating specialty retail and increasing ancillary income.

For anyone involved in retail, it feels like the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Spring Convention in Las Vegas signifies an important yearly milestone. Those of us in the industry can be forgiven for visualizing a “retail year” that begins immediately after the convention in May and runs until RECon opens its doors the following year.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Private equity outfit Sycamore Partners said Thursday it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Hot Topic, valued at about $600 million and returning the Hot Topic namesake stores and the Torrid banner to the private sector.

"Hot Topic and Torrid are both leaders in their categories, and we are excited to have both brands as part of our portfolio," said Stefan Kaluzny, managing director of Sycamore Partners.