News

New York -- Activist investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management plans to abandon his push for a quick replacement to J. C. Penney CEO Mike Ullman, according to the New York Post. The report says that it now appears that Penney will proceed with a more deliberately paced search for a replacement for Myron Ullman, who assumed the role of interim CEO in April in the wake of Ron Johnson's firing.   

MINNEAPOLIS — Wheaties has chosen MVP Adrian Peterson as the face of three limited-edition cereal boxes, the first of which is available in stores this week. 

As the latest "The Breakfast of Champions" athlete, Peterson will be honored at a celebratory event later this month by Wheaties.

CITY OF COMMERCE, Calif. — Stéphane Gonthier, chief operating officer at Dollarama since September 2007, will be leaving the company to become president and CEO of 99 Cents Only Stores, as well as a member of its board. 

Gonthier’s appointment is expected to become effective in the next 60 days. Interim CEO Richard Anicetti, a successful food retailing executive, will return to his role solely as a member of the board.

LOS ALTOS, Calif. — Catalog Spree, a personal digital mall that lets consumers browse and shop their favorite catalogs, has expanded the men’s section of its mobile app to include lookbooks featuring Kenneth Cole, Original Penguin, Perry Ellis and Thomas Pink. 

Mooresville, N.C. -- The Aug. 9 deadline for additional bids on the proposed purchase of Orchard Supply Hardware by Lowe’s Companies Inc. has passed with no activity. This means Lowe’s can move ahead with plans to acquire the majority of assets of Orchard Supply Hardware, including 72 stores, for approximately $205 million in cash, plus the assumption of payables owed to nearly all of Orchard’s supplier partners, first announced June 17.

CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Newegg Inc., a leading electronics-focused e-retailer, is getting set to open its first-ever popup store from August 16-18 in The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. 

Newegg's exclusive store event will feature more than 70 products for showrooming, including Intel-inspired Ultrabooks, 4th generation Intel Core i7 laptops, Sony VAIO laptops, tablets, digital cameras and wireless speakers, Samsung tablets and solid-state drives and WD hard drives and personal cloud storage devices.

Denver -- Thirty-one percent of survey respondents said they won't be shopping for any back-to-school products at all, up from 27.7% last year, according to research published by The Integer Group. The results were in the latest issue of “The Checkout, an ongoing shopper behavior study conducted by Integer and M/A/R/C Research.

With fewer people shopping, certain channels will see a drop in traffic. Integer predicts that mass, clothing, and drug will take the largest hit, losing 2.3%, 3.2%, and 5.5% of shoppers this year compared to last.

The retail world is seeing significant shifts in consumer expectations and behaviors. Today’s online shoppers have higher expectations than ever before.