Sales & Marketing

The world’s retail capital is turning it up yet another degree, as a hot landmark project geared toward commuters launches development.

Turnstyle is the reinvention of a span of underground corridor that runs from West 57th St. to the Columbus Circle/59th St. subway. The new iteration, slated for a fall 2015 opening, will feature 26,000 sq. ft. of space divided among more than 30 retail shops and restaurants, ranging from trendy kiosks to 1,000-sq.-ft. storefronts and offering everything from jewelry and cosmetics to grab-and-go food and smart gathering places.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Company and HBO will host a free, all-star concert to honor the nations veterans and their families on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to be presented live on HBO on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

The line-up of performers scheduled to appear at The Concert for Valor include Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Jamie Foxx, Dave Grohl, Metallica, John Oliver, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood and Zac Brown Band, as well as special appearances by Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, among others.

Tamarac, Fla. – 3dcart, a hosted e-commerce provider for small businesses, is launching a partnership with MasterCard for MasterPass, the MasterCard digital payment solution, into its commerce offering. The new service will reach more than 17,000 online stores within the 3dcart network of small business.

Rite Aid reported $2 billion in sales for the four weeks ended Sept. 27, representing a 4.5% increase over the comparable year-ago period.
 
Same-store sales increased 5.1% over the prior-year period, including a 2.3% lift in front-end same-store sales and growth of 6.3% in pharmacy comparable sales. Pharmacy same-store sales included an approximate 225 basis points negative impact from new generic introductions. Prescription count at comparable stores increased 4.4% over the prior-year period.
 

San Francisco - Williams-Sonoma will reopen a retail store and cooking school in Sonoma, California, on Oct. 4, in the same location where the company opened its first store opened almost six decades ago. The timing also coincides with the 99th birthday of Chuck Williams, the company’s founder, on Oct. 2.

Boston – Online home furnishings retailer Wayfair Inc. launches its initial public offering (IPO) today. The online home furnishings retailer is offering 11 million shares of common stock at $29 per share, which is above Wall Street projections.

The share offering includes 10.5 million shares of Wayfair stock and 500,000 shares from selling stockholders. Wayfair will not receive any proceeds from the selling stockholder shares, meaning the company should raise about $304.5 million in the IPO.

Denver - Location marketing provider Placeable is predicting that online sales will grow by more than 15% during the 2014 holiday season, compared to the same period the prior year, more than tripling the anticipated 4%-5% growth rate for overall holiday sales. However, Placeable expects more than 90% of holiday sales to take place in brick-and-mortar stores, with 58% of consumers shopping at a national retailer they normally don’t visit.

Other Placeable predictions for the 2014 holiday season include:

As the holiday begins to creep closer, GameStop is looking to generate store traffic by unveiling a series of new loyalty incentives during October for PowerUp Rewards program members. The specialty retailer is also offering special financing for new PowerUp Rewards credit cardholders.

In addition to accruing points for purchases and early access to exclusives, PowerUp Rewards Pro shoppers will be able to maximize their loyalty earnings during the month of October, the company said.