Supply Chain & Merchandising

Carle Place, N.Y. – 1-800-Flowers.com reported a net loss of about $4.5 million during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, essentially unchanged from the prior year. Revenues grew 2.9% to $123 million, from $119.6 million.

According to ShopperTrak, a leading provider of shopper analytics, the busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, and retailers should prepare accordingly.

Additionally, with a shortened shopping season and only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas — down from five last year — retailers must be ready to capture holiday spending during a narrower window of time.

Washington, D.C. — Divaris Real Estate has announced that Goodwill has signed a 6,954-sq. ft. lease at Divaris-leased Maddex Square Shopping Center in Shepherdstown, W. Va.

Divaris represented the landlord in the lease negotiations. Food Lion and McDonalds anchor Maddex Square.

 

For many retailers, Halloween has become one of their favorite times of year. Spending on Halloween-related costumes, decorations, candy, etc. has grown to the point it represents the second-highest consumer spending holiday, only trailing Christmas with NRF estimates of this year’s spending total reaching $6.9 billion. But while a good scare is all part of the annual Halloween fun, retailers need to ensure their omni-channel customers do not get scared away by frighteningly poor digital commerce features and functions.

Pittsburgh – Dick’s Sporting Goods opens five new stores across the U.S. on Nov. 8. The stores will be located in Dover, Del., Palm Desert, Calif., West Des Moines, Iowa, Sioux Falls, S.D., and Findlay, Ohio.

Dick’s will operate a total of 554 stores in the U.S. upon opening the five new stores. The Sioux Falls store will be the chain’s first store in South Dakota. This total will include three in Delaware, 32 in California, five in Iowa, and 38 in Ohio.

Dave Moss was named vp of merchandising and three other executives were elevated to the vice president level at Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Grocery Co.

New York – J. Crew Group., Inc. is reporting several strong preliminary results to date for its third quarter of fiscal 2013. Through Oct. 5, 2013, J. Crew reports revenues increased $42.9 million, or 11.3%, to $422.3 million from $379.4 million last year.

San Diego — Petco has opened its first store in Mexico and announced plans for continued expansion in Mexico and Latin America through a joint venture with Grupo Gigante of Mexico.

The companies plan to open as many as 50 Petco stores in Mexico and Latin America by 2020.