Mass Merchant

Seattle -- Nordstrom said Friday it will shutter its underperforming University Mall store in Orem, Utah. The 122,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to close on Feb. 24.

The store, which opened March 29, 2002, didn’t perform to company standards, according to Nordstrom.

Sam’s Club president and CEO Brian Cornell may have been the last of Walmart’s three divisional presidents to speak on the company’s conference call, but he had the best news to share.

Sam’s produced a 5.7% third-quarter same-store sales increase that was unaided by fuel prices, and Cornell indicated the string of seven consecutive quarters of sequentially increasing comps could be extended in the fourth quarter, with guidance that set 6% as the upper end of the forecast range. 

San Francisco -- Gap Inc. reported Thursday that profit for the third quarter dropped 36% to $193 million, compared with $303 million a year earlier, as the retailer continued a deep discounting trend and encountered rising production costs. Still, results beat analysts’ expectations.

Kearney, Neb. -- Teen retailer The Buckle Inc. reported Thursday that profit surged 11% to $38.3 million for the third quarter, compared with $34.4 million in the year-ago period.

Online sales increased 25.4% in the quarter. Total revenue climbed 12% to $273.4 million, beating Wall Street’s expected $272.1 million. Same-store sales rose 9.1%.
 

Cleveland -- CenterMark Development said it has signed a lease with Deal$, a division of Dollar Tree, to occupy an 11,000‐sq.-ft., former Easttown Eagle Market building in the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland.

CenterMark purchased the long‐vacant building in October and said it expects to complete the rehabilitation by the spring of 2012. A grand opening is expected during the second quarter following interior improvements by Deal$.
 

Solihull, England -- Visitor analytics provider Experian FootFall said Thursday that Black Friday’s retail performance isn’t necessarily an indication of how the holiday season will fare.

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — Walmart announced that it is offering free shipping on electronics more than $45 through Dec. 19 at Walmart.com.

City of Industry, Calif. -- Hot Topic Inc. reported Wednesday that profit rose to $3.1 million in the quarter ended Oct. 29, compared with $400,000 in the year-ago period. Prior-year results were weighed down by charges from its ShockHound website, which folded.

Revenue fell 4% to $175.8 million from $183.2 million in the quarter, missing Wall Street’s expected $177.8 million in revenue.

Same-store sales dipped 1.6% at Hot Topic and Torrid stores, attributed to disappointing Halloween sales.