Retail

Lowe's Canada has restructured its senior leadership team ahead of plans to continue growing its footprint in Canada.

Thanks to a housing market that continues to flourish, Lowe's had a solid third quarter, with sizable gains in earnings and sales.

The company's net earnings jumped 26% to $499 million. Sales for the quarter increased 7.3% to $13 billion, up from $12.1 billion in the year ago quarter. Comparable sales for the quarter increased 6.2%.

Fairway Market has launched a new mobile app designed to provide an enriched experience for its shoppers who love to cook. It is available on the iPhone App Store, and can be downloaded in any Fairway location since the stores all offer free Wi-Fi.

App users can create individual food profiles by choosing dietary preferences, and then explore beautifully photographed products along with step-by-step gourmet recipes curated by Fairway experts.

CVS unveiled during a New York City press event on Wednesday the spring 2014 collection of its exclusive Nuance Salma Hayek line.

The new collection, which will begin shipping in January, features products for hair and skin.

PetSmart has unanimously elected Elizabeth Nickels to fill a newly created vacancy on its board of directors. Nickels will join the 2013 class of directors, and will be eligible for re-election by the company’s stockholders at the 2014 annual meeting of stockholders.

Strong retail sales in the month of October point to a good holiday sales season ahead. According to the National Retail Federation, October retail sales, excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants, increased 2.5% seasonally adjusted over September, and 4.2% unadjusted from 2012.

In a broader view, October retail sales released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, which include non-general merchandise categories such as automobiles, gasoline stations, and restaurants, increased 0.4% seasonally adjusted month-to-month, and 3.9% adjusted year-over-year.

Macy’s flagships in Herald Square, New York, and Union Square, San Francisco, are the first major retail locations to deploy Shopkick’s Apple iBeacon-based presence signal. The trial is in closed beta and is anticipated to go live to Shopkick users within weeks.

Despite posting a larger-than-expected loss for its third quarter, J.C. Penney pointed to hopeful signs that its business is starting to stabilize as its heads into the holiday season.

Penney reported a loss of $489 million in the three months ended Nov.2, compared with a loss of $123 million in the year-ago period.

Sales fell 5.1% to $2.78 billion. Same-store sales were down 4.8%, but the period ended with its first monthly gain since December 2011. And online sales rose 24.5%, to $266 million.