Omnichannel

SAN FRANCISCO — Parent company Williams-Sonoma said that its PBteen banner will open its first store in southern California, at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks Saturday, June 1.
 
The store will be anchored around a PBteen Design Lab, where teens and their parents can engage with the brand and its products by digitally creating a personalized room on a computer monitor. Using drag and drop technology, teens can experiment with different room configurations and color combinations and see it come to life on a television screen overhead.

San Francisco -- Parent company Williams-Sonoma said that its PBteen banner will open its first store in southern California, at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks on Saturday, June 1.
 
The store will be anchored around a PBteen Design Lab, where teens and their parents can engage with the brand and its products by digitally creating a personalized room on a computer monitor. Using drag and drop technology, teens can experiment with different room configurations and color combinations and see it come to life on a television screen overhead.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Express overcame the spring chill and a difficult retail environment, reporting net sales of $508 million for the first quarter ended May 4, a 3% increase from $496 million in the first quarter of 2012.

Comparable sales were flat following a 4% comparable sales increase in last year's first quarter. This includes e-commerce sales, which increased 48% to $71 million. In last year's first quarter, e-commerce sales grew 28% to $48 million.

By Crosby Renwick, [email protected]

The pundits say retail, as we’ve known it since the ancient Egyptians, is coming to an end. Ouch. That’s big. You have to admit the logic is not bad: When retail is literally everywhere, when we can buy virtually anything off our phones and have it delivered, why go to a store?

TORONTO — Loft will open four new store locations in Ontario, Canada, following the retailer's initial foray into the Great White North late last year at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto.

The retailer also introduced e-commerce into its new Canadian market in March.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Footwear and accessories retailer DSW reported net sales for the first quarter ended May 4 of $601 million, an increase of 7.7% from $559 million for last year's first quarter. Comparable sales for the quarter decreased by 2.4%, following an increase of 7.6% during the 13-week period ended April 28, 2012.

New York -- Fleur du Mal, a recently launched online retailer of women’s specialty apparel, is deploying the Usablenet U-Experience platform and Acadaca e-commerce platform to support a new personalized mobile web shopping experience for its customers. The site is optimized for fast mobile navigation and has dynamic feeds to and direct integration with Instagram and Twitter.

ST. LOUIS — Brown Shoe Company Inc. reported a net loss and declining net sales in first quarter 2013 as the company cited the impact of having exited some businesses in the past year.

The retailer experienced a net loss of $10.8 million, compared to net earnings of $1.7 million a year earlier. Net sales declined about 1% to $588.7 million from $598.2 million.

However, Brown Shoe said that taking $10.4 million in net sales from exited brands during the first quarter of last year into account, net sales actually slightly improved this year.