News

An epic journey and exercise in social media brand building is now underway in Canada where four intrepid young men are crossing the country in a custom RV to promote awareness of Hudson’s Bay and have a good time in the process.

FAIRPORT HARBOR, Ohio — OurPet's president John M. Silvestri has resigned citing personal reasons and will leave the company after July 5. Silvestri has been with the leading proprietary pet supply company since Feb. 12, 2012. 

"John's departure is voluntary and without any disputes,” said chairman and CEO Dr. Steven Tsengas. “We will miss John as he brought many best practices to our company that are facilitating our growth and development. We wish him the best of everything in wherever his future takes him." 

CHICAGO — MillerCoors is showcasing its environmental friendliness by taking its Golden Brewery landfill free. 

The company, which has taken four of its other breweries landfill-free, has eliminated an average of 135 tons of waste monthly that was previously sent to landfill.

New York - On Tuesday, June 25, Chain Store Age will host a Webinar on how fashion apparel retailer Express uses targeted training to keep its store associates on brand. Adam Zaller, director of learning and development for Express, will discuss how the chain deployed a cloud-based learning management system in its 600plus stores.

New York -- Starbucks Coffee Company is raising prices on some of its beverages starting on Tuesday. Prices will rise an average of 1% starting June 25, but will vary slightly in different regions.
   
"Less than a third of beverages will see a small increase in most stores," said Lisa Passe, a Starbucks spokeswoman, in an Associated Press report.

Located on the mall’s second-floor veranda, the 8,500-sq.-ft. store puts a California spin on the brand’s preppy, nautically-inspired heritage. A sunlit glass façade and a central skylight draws natural light into the space. The interior décor includes nostalgia-oriented custom art pieces and graphic prints. A 1964 Volkswagen Bug adds to the atmosphere.

Design: Tommy Hilfiger Store Planning, New York

Architect: O'Neil Langan Architects, New York

By Shelley E. Kohan, [email protected]

Retail’s four walls are the most valuable marketing assets out there today. The brick-and-mortar stores that know how to optimize their physical locations for maximum productivity will be the ones who come out on top this year. Here are the top five trends that will distinguish the leaders from the laggards, and will define retail’s future for years to come:

1. The in-store experience

Austin, Texas – Slightly more than half of consumers (51%) said they would be more likely to buy something in-store if they received a coupon on their mobile device for that store while nearby, according to a recent mobile commerce survey from RetailMeNot and The Omnibus Company. The survey of 1,067 U.S. residents age 18 and older conducted in April 2013 also revealed:

East Rutherford, N.J. -- The Hudson Group is opening 19 new stores at the soon-to-open Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The stores include Bulgari, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, Coach, Hugo Boss, Bliss, Victoria’s Secret, Tumi, Fred Segak, Kitson, Travel & Leisure, See’s Candies, Virgin/Boost, Pinkberry, Entertainment Weekly News, CNN Newsstand Los Angeles, Angeleno, and Hudson.

Seattle – Six-in-10 U.S. homeowners plan to make a home improvement or addition this summer, according to the Zillow Digs Summer Home Improvement Trend and Spending Survey. Zillow cites tight housing inventory and the fact that more than 25% of homeowners in the U.S. owe more on their mortgage than their property is worth as driving factors in the popularity of home-improvement projects.