Sales & Marketing

New York City -- Japanese fast-fashion giant Uniqlo is set to open its largest global flagship to date, an 89,000-sq.-ft. store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The store, which will also be the larger single retailer on Fifth Avenue, will open on Oct. 14.

One week later, Uniqlo will debut a second flagship in Manhattan, a 64,000-sq.-ft. store 34th St. It will be the chain’s second largest global flagship

Los Angeles -- X Team International announced that Los Angeles-based partner Cypress Retail Group has been retained by Property Development Centers, a wholly owned subsidiary of Safeway Inc., to serve as the leasing agent for four shopping centers under development and redevelopment in the Los Angeles area.

The four shopping centers, located in La Canada, La Crescenta, Eagle Rock and Pasadena, are all being redeveloped, renovated or expanded, and are anchored by Vons, a Los Angeles-based, Safeway-owned grocery store.
 

Cincinnati -- Kroger Co. will hold a moment of silence of September 11, 2011, in its 2,449 stores nationwide. Stores located in the Eastern Time zone will pause for a moment of silence to remember the victims and honor the heroes of the 9/11 tragedy at 8:46 a.m., the time when American Airlines Flight 11 struck the World Trade Center's north tower ten years ago.

Because of the time difference, Kroger's stores in Central, Mountain and Western Time zones will pause for a moment at a locally-designated time on Sunday morning.

NEW YORK — Barnes & Noble reported that total sales for the first quarter were $1.4 billion, a 2% increase compared with the prior year. Sales through BN.com increased 37% as compared with the prior year to $198 million, with comparable sales increasing 65%. This increase was driven by strong demand for the Nook product line, including the continued success of the Nook Color, the mid-quarter launch of the Nook Simple Touch Reader and a quadrupling of digital content sales over last year’s first quarter.

Washington, D.C. -- Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) announced that Chico’s FAS has signed an agreement to license APT’s Test & Learn Management System.

Chico’s chose the solution after a pilot project which examined a range of the retailer’s promotional strategies. Using the Test & Learn approach during the pilot, Chicos’ gained valuable insights that helped it better understand its customers’ behavior.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Books-A-Million announced that it has promoted Terrance Finley, formerly EVP/chief merchandising officer to president and COO of the company, effective immediately. Finley has served in his previous role since August 2009 and in various other capacities in the merchandising department since joining the company in 1992. Finley was appointed to the board of directors of Hibbett Sports Inc. in March 2008.

New York City -- Barnes & Noble said Tuesday it narrowed its net loss in its fiscal first quarter as sales of its Nook e-book reader and e-books helped offset lower physical book sales. The chain, which recently received a $204 million investment from former suitor Liberty Media, said sales of Nooks, e-books and magazines and other digital content and accessories, rose 140% to $227 million during the quarter.