Retail

CHICAGO — The third annual Mobile Audit, released Thursday by e-commerce and digital marketing company Acquity Group, found that mobile adoption is on the rise. In fact, the percentage of retailers with a mobile site reached 37% in 2011, up from 12% in 2010 and only 4% in 2009 — a 210% increase over the past year alone.

AUSTIN — Whole Foods is supporting Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign with several promotions:

• Whole Foods will match donations up to $25,000 of funds donated online, WholeFoodsMarket.com/holidays, to the cause;

• When shoppers purchase gift cards from Nov. 16 through Dec. 31, Whole Foods will donate $1 for every card purchased to No Kid Hungry;

NEW YORK — MG Icon, the joint venture among Iconix Brand Group Inc., Madonna and Guy Oseary announced that that it is looking for the next stars of the national marketing campaign for Macy's exclusive Material Girl brand. The "Lucky Stars" model search will launch on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Macy's Herald Square in New York and will culminate on Nov. 21 online at www.materialgirlcollection.com.

AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods is taking the opportunity to reach out to its Jewish consumers by reminding them that it has a number of kosher-certified items for Hannukah, which begins Dec. 20.

The retailer is touting its availability of whole organic turkeys, pumpkin puree and roasted chestnuts to latkes, matzo meal and Hanukkah gelt (chocolate coins).

Specifically Whole Foods is offering:

Walmart is facing some stiff competion for toy sales with Dollar General, as the company announced that it is going to head-to-head with toy retailers and discounters alike by offering more than 300 toys for $5 or less.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax's sales were down for the third quarter, but the company managed to deliver higher net income growth during a period of executive transitions and a tough economy.

OfficeMax announced that total sales were $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2011, a decrease of 2.1% from the third quarter of 2010.  For the third quarter of 2011, OfficeMax reported net income of $21.5 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, compared with $20 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2010.  

After two years of being in New York City in order to be closer to the center of the fashion industry in the United States, Walmart is moving its apparel office back to Bentonville, Ark.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Same-store sales at Rite Aid increased by 2.9% in October, compared with last October, the retail pharmacy chain said Thursday.

The increase included a 1.3% increase in same-store sales on the front end, as well as a 3.6% increase in pharmacy same-store sales, including a negative offset of about 160 basis points due to the introduction of new generic drugs.

Total sales for the month were nearly $2 billion, a 2.8% increase over October 2010's $1.9 billion.