Distribution

New York — Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) , whose brands include Jones New York and Juicy Couture, has closed on its purchase of Frederick's of Hollywood Group for an undisclosed sum. Previous reports indicated the acquisition agreement, announced in April 2015, was for $22.5 million.

As more brands evolve to a direct-to-consumer model, Unilever is expanding its direct selling to China by launching a flagship store on JD.com.

The Unilever flagship store on JD Worldwide, which is JD.com's cross-border e-commerce platform, will feature products from a range of Unilever’s most popular global brands such as Ponds, Dove and Vaseline. Notably, the flagship store will make available three product lines from Lux's shampoo range, which are currently the best-selling shampoo products in the Japanese market.

Off-price retailer Ollie’s quietly doubled in size the past few years and now the company plans to go public, accelerating growth of no-frills stores it affectionately refers to as “semi-lovely” warehouses.

Ollie’s operates 181 stores in the Eastern U.S. that last year generated annual sales $638 million and net income of $26.9 million.

San Antonio, Texas — CST Brands Inc., through its CrossAmerica Partners LP wholly-owned subsidiary, has acquired the Charleston, West Virginia-based One Stop convenience store network. CST is also moving 29 recently constructed stores into its wholly-owned CrossAmerica partnership via two “dropdown” transactions.

Neckarlsum, Germany — Another German supermarket retailer has its sights set on the United States: Discount grocer Lidl on Friday announced it is establishing a U.S. corporate headquarters, in Arlington County, Va. The move comes as rival Aldi contines to aggressively expand throughout the United States.

City of Commerce, Calif. — A sharp increase in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses drove an 88% drop in net income at 99 Cents Only Stores Inc. to $1.17 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 from $9.57 billion the same quarter the prior fiscal year.

The profit plummet came as total sales rose 6% to $506.17 million from $477.9 million. Same-store sales declined 1.7%, primarily due to lower customer traffic.

The CEO of 99 Cents Only Stores Inc. says he's confident that the company's core business strategy remains strong despite a sharp drop in net income in the first quarter.

Low-price grocery chain Aldi is coming to Southern California, as the retailer hastens plans to open at least 45 stores in that state by the end of 2016.

The retailer says it plans to hire more than 1,100 people to work in its Southern California stores, as well as at the company's regional headquarters and warehouse in Moreno Valley, Calif.