Sales & Marketing

South Plainfield, N.J. -- Global Bay Mobile Technologies, a provider of mobile retail software, announced the deployment of its iPad Retailing solution in 300 Pacific Sunwear stores nationwide. The chain plans to implement the solution in an additional 100 stores by yearend.

Wayne, N.J. -- Toys “R” Us is on track to open 21 stores across 13 states by yearend, including 11 “R” Superstores and 10 “Side-by-Side” locations. (The “R” format combines full-size Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores under one roof.)

The new reflect the company’s strategy to bring Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us together under one roof in an integrated store format, providing customers with a streamlined shopping environment.

In a second-quarter earnings season characterized by weather-depressed sales figures, Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware Corp. managed to show a gain in revenues.

For the three months ended July 2, Ace saw revenues increase 0.5% to $1.021 billion. For the six-month period, sales increased 1.6% over the same two quarters in 2010.

Washington, D.C. -- A survey released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation and conducted by BIGresearch showed that department stores, clothing stores and websites are expected to attract most of the last-minute back-to-school purchases.

According to NRF’s 2011 Back-to-School survey, the average family has completed 43% of shopping for K-12 students, similar to last year’s 43.2%. College students and their parents have completed 44.3% f their shopping, up slightly from last year’s 43.1%.

It would appear the year is playing out much as Target’s senior executives envisioned many months ago when guidance was provided regarding how the retailer’s sales performance was likely to unfold. As expected, the second quarter same-store sales increase of 3.9% was an acceleration of the 2% gain reported during the first quarter, and now further improvement is anticipated during the third and fourth quarter judging from upwardly revised profit targets shared with investors.

Seattle – Guess said Tuesday that it will open a new store in November at Pacific Place shopping center, in downtown Seattle.

The shop will open on level 2 between Club Monaco and bebe and is one of three new store openings within a few months of each other at Pacific Place, which includes Kate Spade New York and Clarks, as well as a major remodel for Victoria’s Secret and the opening of its Pink boutique.

New York City -- The women who were part of the large class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores have been given until Oct. 28 to file individual lawsuits against the company, a U.S. judge ruled, Reuters reported.

The women, who claim the retailer denied them pay raises and promotions because of gender bias, are regrouping after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled a class of up to 1.5 million current and former Wal-Mart workers in June.

If you’re peeking at the news between slats in your fingers, scared to see where the S&P 500 sits or what’s happening with the NASDAQ, the Dow and the price of oil, you’re quite obviously not alone. Each day is a frightening new one, and no one – not even economists – are quite sure what’s going to happen next.