Supply Chain & Merchandising

Pittsburgh -- Dick's Sporting Goods reported Tuesday that net income for the quarter ended Oct. 27 surged 21% to $50.1 million, compared with $41.5 million in the same period last year. The retailer cited strong online sales for the improved performance.

Revenue rose 11% to $1.31 billion, just edging Wall Street’s expected $1.3 billion, and same-store sales rose 5.1%. Online sales soared 46.7% in the quarter, comprised of a 3.9% jump at namesake stores and a 2.3% increase at Golf Galaxy.
 

Toronto -- Sears Canada Inc. reported Tuesday a loss of $21.85 million, compared with a loss of $44 million in the same period last year.

Revenue dropped 6.8% to $1.04 billion, and same-store sales slid 5.7%.

Ra'Anana, Israel -- Woolworths Limited, Australia's leading retail group, has signed a five-year system integration (SI) services agreement with Retalix Ltd.
 
Under the agreement, Retalix will provide Level 2 and Level 3 support for more than 3,000 Woolworths locations and 25,000 point-of-sale terminals, serving more than 24 million customers every week across Australia and New Zealand.

Dallas -- Corner Bakery Café has signed a franchise agreement to open its first restaurants in New York’s Nassau County beginning in 2013. Earlier this year, Corner Bakery Cafe announced similar expansion plans in the Northeast, including Northern New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
 
Four M Bakery, LLC, a group of veteran restaurant operators, which also owns 12 Buffalo Wild Wings through Four M Capital, LLC, has plans to open seven Corner Bakery Cafes in Nassau County.
 

Specialty retailer Five Below doubled in size the past three years and now the company has secured a new distribution center to help it replicate that accomplishment going forward.

The new 600,000-sq.-ft. facility in the northern Mississippi community of Olive Branch will become operational in 2013 and will complement the company’s existing distribution facility in Newark, De. Five Below is focused on teen and pre-teen customers and derives its name from a merchandise mix price at $5 or less.

Gloucester -- TradeSone Software, provider of merchandise lifecycle management (MLM) solutions that unify the design, sourcing, ordering and delivery of retail goods, announced that Ascena Retail Group has gone live with TradeStone’s PLM for Retail and  Collaborative Sourcing in 18 weeks at its subsidiary, Tween Brands, which encompasses both the Justice and Brothers retail banners.

New York -- GA Keen Realty Advisors, LLC of New York, a division of Great American Group has begun marketing leases for 150 Bakers and Wild Pair shoe store locations across the country.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy today announced that retired director, EVP, chief operating and CFO of Williams-Sonoma, Inc., Sharon McCollam, will join the company as its new chief administrative and CFO, effective Dec. 10, according to a Reuters report. McCollam, 50, left Williams-Sonoma earlier this year after serving as an executive officer for more than 12 years.

McCollam succeeds CFO James Muehlbauer, whose departure was announced last month. Muehlbauer will leave the company at the end of this fiscal year, allowing for a smooth transition.