News

Foothill Ranch, Calif.  -- The Wet Seal announced today that its CFO, Steve Benrubi, has resigned. He will remain with the company through Dec. 1 to assist with the transition. 

The retailer said it will start the search for a new CFO.

“I thank Steve for his service and loyal dedication to Wet Seal over the past nine years. Steve was an instrumental leader through many challenges and successes throughout his tenure,” said Wet Seal CEO Ed Thomas.

Nashville, Tenn. -- Under Armour plans to build a new one million-sq.-ft. distribution and warehouse facility in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. This will be Under Armour's third distribution center in the United States, with the original warehouse in the company's hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and the other located in Rialto, California.

Boston – Drizly, a technology company powering beer, wine and liquor delivery for consumers across the U.S., has launched Drizly.com, its new e-commerce website. Drizly.com serves as an extension of the Drizly smartphone apps for iPhone and Android, which allow consumers to have beer, wine and liquor delivered in 20-40 minutes, using a network of retail delivery partners.

The world’s retail capital is turning it up yet another degree, as a hot landmark project geared toward commuters launches development.

Turnstyle is the reinvention of a span of underground corridor that runs from West 57th St. to the Columbus Circle/59th St. subway. The new iteration, slated for a fall 2015 opening, will feature 26,000 sq. ft. of space divided among more than 30 retail shops and restaurants, ranging from trendy kiosks to 1,000-sq.-ft. storefronts and offering everything from jewelry and cosmetics to grab-and-go food and smart gathering places.

New York -- Consumers are well positioned to make the transition to mobile payments — with a little help from retailers, banks, payment networks and retailers, according to a new report from global consultancy Kurt Salmon.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. - Dollar General Corporation has extended its tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Family Dollar Stores Inc. for $80 per share, or about $9.1 billion, to Oct. 31. The offer was previously set to expire on Oct. 8. All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged.

The step, which is largely procedural step, came as Family Dollar remained committed to its previously- agreed-upon deal with Dollar Tree for $74.50 a share.

Denver - Location marketing provider Placeable is predicting that online sales will grow by more than 15% during the 2014 holiday season, compared to the same period the prior year, more than tripling the anticipated 4%-5% growth rate for overall holiday sales. However, Placeable expects more than 90% of holiday sales to take place in brick-and-mortar stores, with 58% of consumers shopping at a national retailer they normally don’t visit.

Other Placeable predictions for the 2014 holiday season include:

New York — WebMD Health and Walgreens on Thursday announced  a partnership designed to improve health and wellness in America by helping and encouraging consumers to make healthier choices at home, work and on-the-go.
 
In the coming months, the companies will work together to provide WebMD’s virtual wellness-coaching programs directly to Walgreens customers. Walgreens will also incorporate WebMD content on a variety of health topics, co-branded by WebMD and Walgreens, into its digital experience and stores.

Boston – Online home furnishings retailer Wayfair Inc. launches its initial public offering (IPO) today. The online home furnishings retailer is offering 11 million shares of common stock at $29 per share, which is above Wall Street projections.

The share offering includes 10.5 million shares of Wayfair stock and 500,000 shares from selling stockholders. Wayfair will not receive any proceeds from the selling stockholder shares, meaning the company should raise about $304.5 million in the IPO.

Camp Hill, Pa. - For the four weeks ended Sept. 27, 2014, same store sales increased 5.1% from the prior-year period at Rite Aid Corp. September front-end same store sales increased 2.3%, while pharmacy same-store sales increased 6.3% and same-store prescription count grew 4.4%.

Total drugstore sales for the four-week period increased 4.5% to $2.02 billion, compared to $1.935 billion.