News

New York -- Michaels Cos. seeking as much as $528 million in its U.S. initial public offering, Bloomberg reported. The arts and crafts retailer is offering 27.8 million shares at $17 to $19 each, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.
 
The IPO is being managed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Michaels was taken private in 2006 by Bain Capital and Blackstone Group in a $6 billion leveraged buyout. Each firm will own 40% of the company after the offering, the report said.

Sydney, Australia -- Wipro Ltd. announced that it has won a “transformational IT applications and infrastructure engagement” from 7-Eleven in Australia.

By Girish Pai, AVP, Group Manager, Retail, CPG and Logistics for Infosys


Ali Baba is a literary character from the Arabian Nights stories known for his ability to get virtually anything he wants by shouting “Open Sesame!”

San Bruno, Calif. -- @WalmartLabs, the Silicon Valley-based tech R&D and innovation arm of Wal-Mart Stores, has acquired Stylr, a mobile fashion app that helps shoppers finds clothes in nearby stores. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Stylr is @WalmartLabs' 13th acquisition in the past three years.

Stylr will be shut down and removed from the iTunes App Store by the end of the month. Wal-Mart's own mobile app won't run Stylr, but the newly acquired technology will be used to develop future mobile innovations.

By Tom Bianculli, Senior Director of Emerging Business, Motorola Solutions

The Internet of Things opens the door to new technologies that will have a significant impact on brick-and-mortar stores. Everything and everyone in the store will be connected in real time and retailers will become as connected as their online counterparts. This will create a personalized environment not only for store associates and managers, but also for shoppers.

Beginning in July, Samsung intends to make a splash in retail stores with a high-tech appliance display called CenterStage. The new concept showcases Samsung’s portfolio of appliances in what it calls “an ultra-realistic and life-size display with an intuitive touch-screen interface.”

Michaels has teamed with seven leading North American museums to create Passport to Imagination 2014, a low-cost, in-store summer program where kids ages 5-12 explore culture through crafting.

Designer shoemaker Stuart Weitzman has selected Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen to be the face of its fall advertising campaign.

Set to launch in the U.S., Europe and Asia, the advertising campaign will feature black-and-white photos of Bundchen shot by photographer Mario Testino, whose work has appeared in Vogue and Vanity Fair.

Who doesn’t have a website these days? Plenty of small business, according to Go Daddy, the domain name registrar looking to convince investors of its untapped growth potential ahead of a public stock offering.

Even though Go Daddy already has 57 million domain names under management and 12 million customers, the company contends only about half of the nation’s 28 million small businesses have a Web site. In addition, Go Daddy’s 57 million domain’s represent about 21% of the 270 million domain names registered world wide.

Francesca’s has tapped David Minnix Jr. as the new VP and head of boutiques. The former chief stores officer at Dots Fashion will start his job overseeing the upscale boutique chain’s operations on July 8.

Minnix has also formerly worked for retailers like Zales and Pearle Vision, and at Dots Fashion oversaw store support and loss prevention departments, among other duties. At Francesca’s Minnix will oversee the company’s 519 boutiques, each of which is meant to feel like an independent shop.