News

New York -- Office Depot and OfficeMax are in talks to merge, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

The retailers are discussing as potential stock swap that would result in a single company with nearly $18 billion in revenue, reports said. The combined company would be better positioned to take on Staples, Walmart and other competitors.

San Jose, Calif. -- Verifone Systems said Tuesday that it has secured a deal with French department store chain Galeries Lafayette to handle its payment solutions and services over a five-year contract period.

The agreement includes managed services, software, helpdesk and 3,200 of VeriFone’s VX 820 advanced PIN acceptance devices that support credit, debit and EMV transactions, and include integrated NFC/contactless technology for alternative payments.

The second and third largest players in the office retail space could soon join forces. According to published reports,OfficeMax and Office Depot could announce a merger this week.

The rumors have gotten Wall Street buzzing as pre-market trading saw shares of Office Depot and OfficeMax up 28.5% and 20%, respectively.

CHICAGO — Muhtar Kent, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSN Inc., and actress and activist Geena Davis will headline an all-star bill at the Network of Executive Women Executive Leaders Forum, July 23 to 25 in Los Angeles. More than 250 senior-level executives from the retail and consumer products industry are expected to attend the invitation-only event.

CHICAGO — Fashion jewelry retailer Claire's Stores said that it expects to report a 13.4% spike in net sales to $493 million for the fourth quarter over the same period last year, thanks in part to an additional week of net sales and a comparable-store sales increase of 5.4%.

For the full year, Claire's expects to report net sales of $1.6 billion for fiscal 2012, an increase of 4.1%, compared with fiscal 2011.  

Consolidated same-store sales increased 1.8% for the fiscal year.

HUDSON, Ohio — Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores has named Riddianne Kline SVP chief marketing and merchandising officer.

In addition to retaining her current responsibilities overseeing both marketing and advertising for Jo-Ann, Kline will assume responsibility for the merchandising, product development and inventory management groups.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Stater Bros. has promoted Dan Meyer to the position of EVP retail operations. In this position, Meyer will be responsible for the retail operations of all 167 Stater Bros. Supermarkets as well as overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Corporate Training Center.  

Due to President's Day on Monday, Feb. 18, Chain Store Age will not be publishing stories. We will resume publishing on Tuesday, Feb. 19.