San Francisco -- The Gymboree Corp. reported Wednesday a loss of $14.1 million in the second quarter, compared with a loss of $6.9 million for the same period last year.
Sales rose 3.8% to $268.8 million, from $259.0 million last year, and same-store sales dipped 1%.
During fiscal 2012, the company reiterated its plans to open 115 new stores, including 90 locations for its value-priced Crazy 8 concept.
Walmart this week modified a layaway program that had yet to begin after Toys "R" Us said it wouldn’t charge a service fee and lifted minimum purchase requirements for its program.
The layaway saga began in late August when Walmart said the start date of its layaway program would begin on September 16, a month earlier than the prior year. Curiously, Walmart also said at that time the fee to open a layaway account would increase to $15 from $5 the prior year.
Atlanta -- M-commerce provider CorFire said Thursday that it is providing virtual mobile payment capabilities to Dunkin' Donuts.
The technology supports Dunkin' Donuts' recently launched mobile app, which eliminates the need for physical cards and enables consumers to gift via SMS, email and social networks.
The Dunkin' App is technology agnostic and the solution, which works on most smartphones, delivers Dunkin' Donuts franchisees with payment and gifting solutions that drive customer loyalty while providing cost savings.
Minneapolis -- Supervalu announced Wednesday it will close about 60 underperforming or nonstrategic stores in fiscal 2012. The closings include 22 Save-A-Lot locations, 27 Albertsons stores, four Acme stores and one previously announced Jewel-Osco.
The majority of the stores are expected to close before Dec. 1, which marks the end of the company’s fiscal 2013 third quarter.
NEW YORK — Safeway will package $150 million in real healthcare savings into an overall wellness strategy to be implemented over the course of 2013, the grocer's chairman and CEO Steve Burd told analysts Thursday morning at the Goldman Sachs 19th Annual Global Retailing Conference.
New York -- Saks Inc. said Thursday that it will close its Highland Park, Ill., store, located in Renaissance Place, and its Austin, Texas, store, located in the Arboretum Market.
Dallas -- Loyalty solution-provider Alliance Data Systems Corp. said Thursday that its Canadian coalition loyalty business has signed a new agreement with Michaels of Canada, a subsidiary of Irving, Texas-based Michaels Stores, to issue Air Miles reward miles across multiple Canadian provinces.
WAYNE, N.J. — Halloween has arrived at Toys"R"Us. The retailer has launched Trick“R”Treat “boo”tiques in its stores nationwide and online. The designated shops will feature the usual assortment along with an all-new, affordable line of classic Halloween fashions for infants, toddlers and big kids called Boo!, available exclusively at Toys“R”Us stores nationwide.
THe Boo! line will include bumble bee, monster, pumpkin and other popular customes ranging in price from $14.99 to $29.99.
