News

Delhaize America to go cage-free on eggs by 2025
Delhaize America is joining other retailers in announcing it will work with suppliers to reach a 100% cage-free shell egg assortment by 2025.
American Eagle improves performance by refining footprint and merchandise
American Eagle Outfitters didn’t exactly soar in the fourth quarter, but its low single-digit same-store sales increase was better than most and benefitted from recent store closures.

Total company sales increased 3% to $1.11 billion and same store sales grew 4% after a flat performance in the fourth quarter the prior year. Earnings per share increased 17% to 42 cents from the 36 cents earned from continuing operations the prior year. The company expects its first quarter same store sales to increase in the mid-single digits.

Aldi takes energy management to the cloud

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.
Von Maur’s expanding footprint

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.
Five Below sets sights on Florida

Teen and pre-teen retailer Five Below has big plans to bring its brand of extreme value retail to the Sunshine State.

The company will hold a grand opening of its first store in Miami on March 2, giving it a total of 15 locations in the state, and said over time is expects to open 100 more stores. This store is located at Causeway Plaza, 12195 Biscayne Blvd, North Miami.
GameStop scores big with ship from store

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.”
Regional Target, Walgreens suppliers obtain new insight

Vendor partners of Target and Walgreens will soon be receiving actionable insights and alerts aimed at improving assortments, product availability, new item retail launches and promotion effectiveness in the Midwest.

Carlin Group (part of Beacon United), a regional sales and marketing solutions company focused on the Midwestern market, is leveraging the retail analytics platform from Retail Solutions Inc. (RSI) to help clients including Target and Walgreens suppliers improve their overall customer experience in the region.
Longtime Starbucks executive takes permanent coffee break

Starbucks Corp. has lost one of its veteran executives.

The coffee giant revealed in a regulatory filing that former COO Troy Alstead will not return to the company following a year-long unpaid leave. Alstead, whose resignation was effective February 29, 2016, had long been seen as the company’s number two executive and an eventual replacement to current CEO Howard Schultz.
Weather boosts sales at Big 5 Sporting Goods

Cold winter weather in the Western states helped Big 5 Sporting Goods post an increase in same-store sales and profit in the fourth quarter.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 3, the retailer said net sales increased to $275 million from net sales of $250.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. Same-store sales increased 0.1% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 and 1.4% for the full year.
American Apparel has enhanced payment in store

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.
Rue La La carries the news to customers

Specialty online fashion retailer Rue La La is telling all the young dudes (or dudettes) about the latest in fashion with a new content site called Rue Now.

Building on the fact that the average Rue La La member visits the site more than twice a week for purposes of learning and discovery as well as making purchases, the retailer launched the Rue Now platform will complement its daily shopping boutiques by giving customers access to timely fashion and lifestyle news.
Sports Authority files Chapter 11; store closings loom

The Sports Authority on Wednesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and said it plans to close or sell as many as 140 of its 463 stores nationwide. The beleaguered company has struggled in recent years under increased competition not only from online players, but also from the likes of Dick’s Sporting Goods and specialty retailers such as Lululemon that have capitalized on the “athleisure” boom in fitness apparel.