Mass Merchant

The private equity firms that paid a premium to take Michaels private nearly a decade ago continue to gradually unwind their majority position in the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailer.

New York -- Crate & Barrel has nabbed a CEO from the executive ranks of a much more upscale competitor.

The home furnishings retailer named Doug Diemoz, currently chief development officer at Restoration Hardware, as CEO, effective Aug. 1. He replaces Sascha Bopp, who was named CEO in 2012 but left in August 2014. Crate & Barrel COO and CFO Adrian Mitchell has been interim CEO during the search for a permanent replacement.

New York -- J.Crew Group, a company struggling to regain its mojo, is jumping into the value category.

The company announced it will launch a new store banner, J.Crew Mercantile, selling lower-priced (“value-driven”) merchandise with classic J. Crew styles for women, men and children. The first J.Crew Mercantile store will open in late July, at The Shops at Park Lane in Dallas. The retailer plans to open more Mercantile stores in strip centers and some malls, Bloomberg reported.

Plano, Texas -- Home décor superstore At Home is entering a new market.

The retailer announced opening of its store in Kenner, Louisiana, on July 9. The 90,000-sq.-ft. is At Home’s first store in Louisiana.

At Home currently operates more than 90 stores across 25 states.
 

New York -- Although the list of retailers reporting monthly sales has grown considerably slim over the past few years, a handful are still going public with the metric.

Costco Wholesale Corp. announced on Thursday that its same-store sales fell 1% in June, following a 1% drop in its most recent quarter (ended May 1), which was the chain’s first quarterly drop since 2009.

Headwinds from fuel price fluctuations and currency exchange rates lessened for Costco in June as the retailer posted a bump in same store sales.

The warehouse club reported net sales of $11.01 billion for the month of June, the five weeks ended July 5, an increase of 1% from $10.88 billion during the similar period last year. Same store sales, excluding the negative impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange, were 6%. 

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. is putting a spotlight on how the “Internet of Things“(IoT) will transform consumers’ homes and lives.

The company has opened an experimental space that provides an upfront and personal look at how the IoT can connects everyday items like thermostats and door locks. The move follows the opening of Sears’s “Connected Solutions” flagship in San Bruno, California.

New York -- Trader Joe’s is opening a store in the heart of what is arguably the nation’s hippest enclave.

The grocer has signed a lease to open an 18,000-sq.-ft. in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, reported Crain’s New York.

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