Retail

Dallas -- Red Mango said Wednesday it has secured an area development agreement to expand the yogurt chain to Central America.

El Salvador-based Nutrisal will open its first store in San Salvador next month at Plaza Santa Elena. Total unit development plans were not announced.

New York -- Foot Locker announced Wednesday that it has appointed Maxine Clarke, recently retired Build-A-Bear Workshop CEO, as a member of its board of directors.

Clark has also served as president of Payless ShoeSource, and spent 19 years as an executive with May Department Stores Co.

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Café said Wednesday it plans to open 18 restaurants in the Boston area, joining under-development markets in neighboring Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

The bakery-café concept is targeting its growth through franchising deals with restaurant pros capable of opening multiple units. Corner Bakery has set a goal of doubling its current U.S. footprint of 147 locations by the end of 2015.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop, which is in the midst of a major turnaround initiative, reported a net loss of $36.5 million for its fourth quarter ended Dec. 29, compared with a net loss of $9 million during the prior-year quarter.

Total revenue for the quarter was $118.2 million, down 1% from the prior-year quarter.

New York -- Office Depot and OfficeMax are in talks to merge, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

The retailers are discussing as potential stock swap that would result in a single company with nearly $18 billion in revenue, reports said. The combined company would be better positioned to take on Staples, Walmart and other competitors.

Aston, Pa. -- Lighting, signage and electrical maintenance firm Action Services Group said Tuesday it has named Dale Clouser as director of marketing for the company. 

In the newly created role, Clouser will be responsible for the company’s in-bound and out-bound marketing and communication efforts. He co-founded and ran his own B2B integrated marketing and communications firm prior to joining Action Services Group.

Houston -- A report released Tuesday by research company NPD Group found that the convenience store sector experienced marked gains last year, as visits increased 4.6% in the fourth quarter and grew an average of 3.7% per month for 2012.

Traffic gains were spread among all type of c-stores, according to NPD’s Convenience Store Monitor, which tracks the consumer purchasing behavior of more than 51,000 convenience store shoppers in the U.S.  

Roswell, Ga. -- PGA Tour Superstore will open its second store on the West Coast, a 50,000-sq.ft, location in Irvine, Calif., later this year.

"We are excited to be expanding into Southern California, which encompasses one of the nation's most renowned golf areas in the country," said PGA Tour Superstore president and CEO Dick Sullivan.

With the addition of this store, the number of PGA Tour Superstores will increase nationwide to 17.