News

Wonderful Pistachios is heading to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive year, and is taking Emmy-award winning host and executive producer of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert, with it.

As part of the full-year agreement under the campaign theme, "Get Crackin', America," Colbert will star in two Super Bowl spots for the pistachio grower.

Salt Lake City – Overstock.com plans to appeal the tentative ruling of a California trial court, which prohibits the company from comparison price advertising unless done in conformity with new court-mandated practices, which the company says diverge widely from industry standards.

Looking back on 2013 (and as always, it’s amazing how quickly “look back” time arrived), the biggest single trend in retail IT has been customers using connective technology to take control of the shopping experience. And retailers should be thrilled.

Micro Center, a leading consumer electronics retailer, has entered into a multi-year agreement with the Warranty Group, a leading global provider of warranty solutions and underwriting services, which will allow the retailer to enhance its national Protection Plan program.

Under the new agreement, Micro Center customers will benefit from innovative warranty program solutions and customized services across a broad range of products.

Extreme value retailer 99 Cents Only will use its entry into the Waco, Texas, market to unveil a store format considerably smaller than any of its other locations.

The City of Commerce, Calif-based operator of 339 stores said its new store in Waco will open on Jan. 9 and measure about 13,000 sq. ft. That size is well below the company’s average store size of 21,000 sq. ft. and also below the range of 15,000 to 20,000 sq. ft. the company had previously identified as its sweet spot for new stores.

Emeryville, Calif. — Jamba Juice Company has entered into a master franchise development agreement with Foodmark, the food and beverage division of Landmark Group, to develop 80 Jamba Juice stores across the Middle East region during the next 10 years. The first Jamba Juice store is expected to open in Dubai in 2014.

Foodmark operates several restaurant concepts and brands in the region.

Raj Jain, the former head of a joint venture between Walmart and Bharti Enterprises, has joined Bharti Retail as CEO.

Jain spent six years with the joint venture, Bharti Walmart, most recently serving as president of Walmart India. He left the joint venture in June 2013, four months before Walmart and Bharti announced they would independently pursue retail opportunities in India.

Joining Jain at Bharti Retail is his former joint venture colleague Panka Madan who will serve as CFO. Madan also served as CFO of Bharti Walmart but left the joint venture in 2012.

City of Commerce, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores opens its first store in Waco, Texas on Thursday, Jan. 9. The new store is approximately 13,000 square feet and will feature a perishable food department, including produce, dairy and frozen foods.

99 Cents Only Stores currently operates 339 extreme value retail stores consisting of 244 stores in California, 45 in Texas, 33 in Arizona, and 17 in Nevada.