Mass Merchant

Stronger-than-expected sales from a number of retailers in June is adding credence to a recent forecast that this year’s back-to-dchool season could be the strongest in the past five years, which is good news for Walmart as it looks for a strong ending to its second quarter.

Shoppers continue to face a lot of economic headwinds this back-to-school season, but one forecaster has seasonal sales growing by 6.2% to $467 billion, the most since 2006.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kmart that it will be the exclusive retailer for the new Gordon Ramsay Everyday kitchen collection. The collection will debut in stores this fall and will include cookware, dinnerware, cooking utensils and small kitchen appliances.

New York City -- With same-store sales increases of 6.7% and 7.5% respectively, Macy’s and Kohl’s outperformed rival J.C. Penney in June, as J.C. Penney came up short of Wall Street estimates with a slight 2% gain.

Macy’s saw total sales rise 7.5% in June to $2.4 billion.

“Sales growth in June exceeded our expectations,” said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman, president and CEO. “Once again, the growth came from across the company -- Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores and online sites.”

MINNEAPOLIS - The 4.5% increase in same-store sales Target reported for June was at the high end of the company’s expectations and came on top of a prior year increase of 1.7%. The gain was driven primarily by an increase in average transaction size while growth in the overall volume of transactions appeared to moderate somewhat.

Target chairman, president and CEO Gregg Steinhafel said he was very pleased with the company’s performance at the upper end of a guidance range that called for a low-to-mid single-digit improvement.

Ridgeland, Miss. -- Renaissance at Colony Park announced that Brooks Brothers is joining its tenant lineup and is scheduled to open a 7,500+-sq.-ft. store in Ridgeland, Miss., in November. Currently, the nearest Brooks Brothers stores to the Jackson (Miss.) metropolitan area are in New Orleans and Memphis.

Other recent openings at Renaissance at Colony Park include Another Broken Egg Café and Apricot Lane Boutique. Opening soon are SOMA Intimates and Altar’d State Christian Stores.

Corpus Christi, Texas -- Trademark Property said Thursday that its La Palmera shopping center has been awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver for Core and Shell 2.0 established by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Acquired in partnership with International Mall Investors in July 2008, the 1-million-sq.-ft. regional mall located in Corpus Christi is the first in the U.S. to receive the designation.

The 4.5% increase in same-store sales Target reported for June was at the high end of the company’s expectations, came on top of a prior year increase of 1.7% and was driven primarily by an increase in average transaction size with a more modest benefit associated with increased traffic.

Former Walmart China executives Rob Cissell and Shawn Gray have joined the retail subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, according to the Economic Times of India. Cissell will serve Reliance CEO and Gray will serve as COO, according to the newspaper.