News

Carle Place, N.Y. -- 1-800-Flowers.com Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire gourmet food and gift retailer Harry & David Holdings for $142.5 million in cash.  

The deal includes Harry & David’s brands and websites as well as its headquarters, manufacturing and distribution facilities and orchards in Medford, Oregon, a warehouse and distribution facility in Hebron, Ohio, and 47 Harry & David stores.

Broad-line retailer Alco’s shareholders have replaced the company’s board of directors with seven new members, effective immediately. The elections were made at the company’s annual meeting of stockholders in Dallas late last week.

Washington, D.C. -- Household purchases unexpectedly fell 0.1% in July, after rising 0.4% the prior month, according to figures released by the Commerce Department. It was the first drop in six months. On a more positive note, confidence among households hit a seven-year high in August, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index.

Murad, the skin care brand founded by Howard Murad, plans to open in October the company’s first official stand-alone retail boutique.

The freestanding store, which will serve as Murad’s global flagship retail location, will be located in Los Angeles. The opening of the 1,500-sq.-ft. store front coincides with the celebration of Murad’s 25th anniversary this year.

New York – A Credit Suisse analyst is reportedly recommending that Staples and Office Depot, itself recently merged with Office Max, merge. According to Investors Business Daily, Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter made the suggestion in a note sent to clients on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

The Woodlands, Texas - Conn’s Inc. missed Wall Street expectations for profits in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, as net income dropped 8% to $17.65 million from $19.16 million. In addition to charges related to facility closures, a significant increase in delinquent customer debt in the company’s credit segment negatively impacted net income results.

Meanwhile, total revenues soared 30% to $352.96 million from $270.69 million. Same-store sales rose 11.7%.

The Home Depot is the latest major retailer to investigate what looks like a data breach.

The Atlanta-based retailer is looking into the matter and also working with law enforcement and bank investigators.

"Protecting our customers' information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers,” the retailer said in a statement.

Nordstrom Inc. has become the first retailer to launch the Like2Buy platform, which allows Nordstrom.com customers to directly purchase items featured on the retailer’s Instagram page. The commerce-enablement of visually oriented social platforms, such as Instagram, Pinterest and Vine, is an inevitable development as social media becomes more focused on photos and videos and less on text. The preference most Millennials have for visually oriented social media reinforces the value that commerce enabling these platforms has for retailers.