Store Systems

Minneapolis – Best Buy reported a net loss of almost 10% for first quarter fiscal 2014, seeing its revenue drop from roughly $10.34 billion the prior year to $9.38 billion. Increased price competition and the closure of 49 large-format stores contributed to the electronics retailer’s decline in revenue. A shift in the Super Bowl, which typically drives TV sales, to the prior quarter and reduced non-core sales also impacted revenue.

Philadelphia – Urban Outfitters, Inc. reported stronger than expected net sales, which drove a 39% increase in net earnings. The specialty retailer reported record total net sales of $648 million during first quarter fiscal 2014, up 14% from $568 million in the same quarter last year. Net earnings for the quarter were $47 million, higher than analyst expectations and up 39% from first quarter fiscal 2013.

Menlo Park, Calif. - Google will close down its Google Checkout online payment service for good in November of this year. The online service and technology provider says the move is part of a broader transition to its Google Wallet multichannel commerce platform.

AUSTIN, Texas — Tabbedout has teamed up with Google to offer Google Wallet as a payment source in the Tabbedout app for Android. Consumers will now have the opportunity to pay from their smartphones, using their Google accounts, at thousands of Tabbedout locations. 

Bellevue, Wash. – Real estate development firm Kemper Freeman is moving ahead with a $1.2 billion expansion of The Bellevue Collection, a regional shopping center located in Bellevue, Wash. The expansion will add two million sq. ft. of retail, office, hotel, residential, dining and entertainment space. The currently four million-sq.-ft. property already houses more than 250 stores and restaurants.
 

San Diego – Tommy Bahama is employing the IT Service Automation Application Suite from cloud-based IT services provider ServiceNow to automate IT functions such as incident management, change management, problem management, configuration management database and service catalog. The specialty apparel brand is also using the SaaS-based Orchestrate solution from ServiceNow to streamline the hiring and training process.

LENEXA, Kan. — Balance Innovations, a provider of reconciliation and cash office management solutions for the retail industry in the United States and Canada, has named former Safeway executive Steve Rempel president and CEO. 

In this role, Rempel will lead the company as it further develops its core products and evolves to the next generation of cash office reconciliation solutions for the retail industry.

MINNEAPOLIS — Store closures and a shift in this year’s Super Bowl affected Best Buy’s results for the 13-week period ended May 4.