Supply Chain & Merchandising

Erie, Pa. -- Youngstown, Ohio-based Cafaro Co. said that Ross Dress for Less will open a store at the Millcreek Mall Complex near Erie, Pa.

The new store will open in the Millcreek Pavilion section of the complex this fall. It will occupy more than 25,000 sq. ft. next to Old Navy.

Millcreek Mall Complex, located in Millcreek Township, comprises more than two million sq. ft. of shopping, lodging, dining and entertainment.
 

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- HSN announced Monday it has acquired lifestyle brand Chasing Fireflies. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.

The purchase, which was made through the multichannel retailer’s Cornerstone Brands segment, will accelerate HSN’s move into content-driven lifestyle businesses.

Norwalk, Conn. -- Emcor Group announced that its subsidiary, USM, has been awarded a three-year contract for integrated facilties management at 742 Ruby Tuesday-owned restaurants throughout the United States. 

Sandusky, Ohio -- Youngstown, Ohio-based The Cafaro Co. said Tuesday that cosmetics retailer Ulta will open a store at its Sandusky Mall property, located in Sandusky, Ohio.

Ulta’s new 11,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open in the fourth quarter, bringing the Pavilion section of the complex to 100% occupancy.

The 1+ million-sq.-ft. mall is anchored by Macy’s, Elder-Beerman, Sears, J.C. Penney, Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods, and features more than 90 other specialty shops. 

PHILADELPHIA — Pep Boys sales were up in the fourth quarter, but were earnings were down on merger costs and other expenses. The company reported that sales for the thirteen weeks ended Jan. 28 increased by $27.9 million, or 5.9%, to $505.3 million from $477.4 million for the thirteen weeks ended Jan. 29, 2011. Comparable sales increased slightly (0.8%) and consisted of a decrease of 0.1% in comparable service revenue and an increase of 1% in comparable merchandise sales.

Seattle -- ExtraHop Networks, a provider of network-based application performance management (APM) solutions, announced that it has won four new customers in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, including Axstores, a retail group in the Nordic region with more than 390 beauty, fashion, home furnishing, and department stores.

Dallas -- Cypress Equities said that Fit Factory Nutrition has signed a lease to occupy 1,096 sq. ft. at The Shops at Mockingbird, located in Dallas.

The vitamin retailer is a new start-up business and is slated to open its debut store in summer 2012.

New York -- Starbucks Coffee Co. is planning to a major push into smaller cities in China, with a target of 1,500 stores in more than 70 Chinese cities by 2015, Bloomberg reported.

China will become the chain’s second largest market outside the United States, the report said. Currently, Starbucks has about 500 outlets in China and operates in 48 cities.