Store Systems

NAPERVILLE, Ill. and BOCA RATON, Fla. — The office retail field narrowed Wednesday, as OfficeMax and Office Depot officially announced an agreement to merge into a single company. The combined company would have had pro forma combined revenue for the 12 months ended Dec. 29, 2012 of approximately $18 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, OfficeMax stockholders will receive 2.69 Office Depot common shares for each share of OfficeMax common stock.

NEW YORK -- Retailing Today's sister publication, Chain Store Age has awarded Simons, Canada’s eclectic and fashion-forward department store retailer, top honors in its 31st annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The company’s 118,000-sq.-ft. store in West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada, was named Store of the Year. Designed by figure3, Toronto, Simons also was the winning entry in the department store category.

SAN FRANCISCO — Mobile shopping platform ShopSavvy has launched a revamped version of its QR Code Reader and Scanner application to give mobile-device users access to even more information about products and retailers an additional avenue to leverage a powerful technology.

New York -- Foot Locker announced that its board of directors has approved a $220 million capital expenditure program for 2013. The amount marks a significant increase over the approximately $163 million spent on in 2012.

The company said it plans to invest in such growth initiatives as including new and innovative store formats; continued expansion in Europe; technology to improve its customers' experience; and robust capabilities for its digital segment.

New York -- Simons, Canada’s eclectic and fashion-forward department store retailer, received top honors in Chain Store Age’s 31st annual Retail Store of the Year design competition. The company’s 118,000-sq.-ft. store in West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Canada, was named Store of the Year. Designed by figure3, Toronto, Simons also was the winning entry in the department store category.

CHICAGO — Fashion jewelry retailer Claire's Stores said that it expects to report a 13.4% spike in net sales to $493 million for the fourth quarter over the same period last year, thanks in part to an additional week of net sales and a comparable-store sales increase of 5.4%.

For the full year, Claire's expects to report net sales of $1.6 billion for fiscal 2012, an increase of 4.1%, compared with fiscal 2011.  

Consolidated same-store sales increased 1.8% for the fiscal year.

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop, which is in the midst of a major turnaround initiative, reported a net loss of $36.5 million for its fourth quarter ended Dec. 29, compared with a net loss of $9 million during the prior-year quarter.

Total revenue for the quarter was $118.2 million, down 1% from the prior-year quarter.

By Gregg Brunnick, [email protected]