Store Systems

Abercrombie & Fitch's efforts to attract more shoppers with a better store experience and updated merchandise mix are paying off as the retailer reported an unexpected increase in same-store sales and a 30% increase in profit for the fourth quarter.

Abercrombie said overall same-store sales rose 1% in the quarter ended Jan. 30, the first gain in the metric since the third quarter 2012. Analysts on average were expecting a decline of 0.10%. The gain in same-store sales was driven by a 4% increase in the Hollister division.

Product discovery is not a game, and GameStop Corp. is using a newly expanded ship from store program to bring goods as close to its customers as possible.

“We discovered 66% of our total unique SKUs were only represented on our store shelves, not in the warehouse,” Jason Allen, VP of multichannel operations for Grapevine, Texas-based GameStop told Chain Store Age in an interview. “Unless the customer came in a particular store that had that product on the shelf, there was no discovery.”

Meijer will spend $400 million on store expansion and remodeling in 2016 as the chain looks to expand its footprint.

The investment includes the construction of nine new Meijer supercenters and 32 remodel projects. While Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin will each welcome new Meijer supercenters later this year, dozens of other Meijer stores have begun or will soon begin remodel projects to further enhance the customer shopping experience.

American Apparel is looking to make the final step in the path to in-store purchase safer, easier and more efficient.

The specialty apparel chain is deploying a cloud-based payments infrastructure from retail software provider Index. Leveraging the Index Hosted Gateway and Semi-Integrated Payments solutions, American Apparel will obtain the ability to secure card payments at the POS with both point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and EMV authentication. This will validate the cardholder at the moment of transaction and then protect their data as it is processed.

Meijer's ambitious growth plans for 2016 involve nine new supercenters, 32 remodels and a $400 million budget.

The company announced the investment includes the construction of nine new Meijer supercenters and 32 different remodel projects. While Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Wisconsin will each welcome new Meijer supercenters later this year, dozens of other Meijer stores have begun or will soon begin remodel projects to further enhance the customer shopping experience.

Discount grocer Aldi has deployed an energy management solution that gives it control and visibility across its nearly 1,500 U.S. stores.

The chain has implemented Siemens’ Site Controls energy management system, with the majority of the installations involving retrofits at existing stores where thermostats or third-party energy management systems were replaced. But the system has been deployed in newly constructed stores as well. Aldi will also install the Site Controls system in new stores as it continues to expand across the nation.

Samsung Electronics America has opened what it describes as a “living lab” and “digital playground” in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan.

Von Maur Department Store is doubling down in Minnesota.

The family-owned company will open a 140,000-sq.-ft. store at the Rosedale Center in St. Paul. Scheduled to open fall 2018, the store will be the retailer’s second location in Minnesota. Construction is due to begin in spring 2017.