News

SMS Assist, a leading technology-driven facilities maintenance and management company, has appointed Geoffrey Wigner as its EVP of facilities.

Wigner previously served as senior director of store services for Dollar General, where he managed more than $500 million in capital and expense budgets while directing major projects affecting more than 10,000 stores. Wigner helped the nationwide retailer open 625 new stores and renovate 525 others in fiscal year 2011. 

New York -- Masayoshi Son, billionaire founder of tech/telecom company SoftBank Corp., has reportedly won bidding for the Tiffany Building in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo. According to Forbes, Son paid about $36 million for the 10-story glass building.

The Tiffany Building houses the flagship Japanese store of Tiffany & Co. Son did not comment on why he bought the building.

Washington, D.C. -- More than half (55%) of all retail-related Internet time in June 2013 originated on smartphones and tablet devices combined, compared with just 45% originating from desktop devices. According to a report produced in partnership by the National Retail Federation (NRF) with comScore and The Partnering Group and released at Shop.org's Annual Summit, smartphone Internet usage in June 2013 totaled 44% of retail Internet minutes, up from 17%in June 2010. Tablet internet usage accounted for 11% of total minutes on retail sites.

Neiman Marcus Group will begin to offer free standard shipping and returns for all domestic purchases made online through neimanmarcus.com and bergdorfgoodman.com as well as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores. The announcement comes just in time for the holiday season. 

"The customer has always been at the center of the Neiman Marcus business model. Permanent free shipping and returns have been a top request and we are happy to be able to make this change just in time for the holiday shopping season." said Wanda Gierhart, chief marketing officer.

Pittsburgh – Internet coupon provider MyCoupons.com is launching a responsive design website. The new website presents a cleaner, contemporary, responsive design that adapts itself to all digital platforms: web, tablet, and mobile.

The new infrastructure also improves the user experience with better and faster search capabilities for the thousands of coupons and promotional codes available on the site from more than 9,000 online merchants.

Walgreens filled a record 821 million prescriptions which helped boost the company’s retail pharmacy market share for the fiscal year to 19.1%. 

Walgreens posted a sales gain of 0.8% for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, reaching a record $72.2 billion. Early morning trading boosted Walgreens' share price from a close of $53.80 on Monday to $56.06, an increase of 4.2%.

Ending years of speculation, the Container Store late Monday filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public stock offering.

The operator of 62 stores in 22 states with annual sales of $702 million contends the U.S. can support as many as 300 locations with international growth also a possibility. The company expects to open six stores during the current fiscal year and seven stores next year. The company’s stores average around 19,000-sq.-ft. and carry approximately 10,500 items grouped in 16 departments.

Saks Off 5th has launched its online store, saksoff5th.com. It joins a list of closeout retailers that are getting comfortable in the e-commerce market. The online store will offer up to 55% off merchandise year-round.