News

By Michael Hirschfeld, senior VP of JLL’s National Retail Tenant Services

Jif is rolling out two new varieties of its new Jif To Go Dippers with a social media contest. To promote the new product, which pairs two varieties of peanut butter comes in two varieties—chocolate peanut butter with chocolate flavored spread, and creamy peanut butter — with pretzels, the company has launched the #GetGoing photo promotion.

New York -- Shoppers reliance on mobile devices is reflected in a new back-to-school survey by Retale, a location-based shopping platform aggregating weekly circulars from top line retailers for mobile and digital devices.

Among parents that own a mobile device (e.g., smartphone, tablet), 73% use them to shop for back-to-school items, with viewing deals (97%) and comparing prices (96%) being the most common mobile shopping activities.

Four years after it opened its first location in New York City, teen and pre-teen bargain retailer Five Below is set to open its first location in Brooklyn at the borough’s Gateway Center Aug. 29. The 7,500-sq.-ft. store will feature all of the company’s merchandise, all priced at or below $5.

New York -- UPS Stores, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service, said that a security breach may have led to the theft of customer credit and debit data at 51 UPS stores in the United States.

In a statement, the company said that customers who had used their debit or credit cards at affected locations (which are listed on the UPS site) from Jan. 20 to Aug. 11 may have been exposed to the malware. However, the company noted, exposure began after March 26 in most cases.

The malware was eliminated as of Aug. 11, UPS said.

Aaron's has tapped EVP and CFO Gilbert L. Danielson as interim CEO, effective following the previously announced retirement of Ronald W. Allen August 31.

The company announced Allen’s intentions to retire just under two weeks after posting disappointing second-quarter results.

Kearney, Neb. -- Buckle Inc. reported a profit of $24.5 million in the second quarter, missing Wall Street estimates.

Quarterly revenue, however, beat analysts’ projections, as the teen apparel retailer posted revenue of $235.7 million in the period. Wall Street expected $234.2 million.
 

Describing second-quarter earnings as "unacceptable," Sears Holdings chairman and CEO Edward Lampert added that his company's transformation is continuing and online sales are growing.

The company reported second-quarter net loss of $573 million, compared with a loss of $194 million in the same quarter last year. Revenues decreased $858 million to $8.0 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 2, 2014,