News

Target and the Heart of America Foundation unveiled a completely redesigned library to students, teachers and parents at P.S. 299 Thomas Warren Field School last week in New York. Servicemen and women from local police and fire departments were on hand to help put the finishing touches on the space at an event that honored local heroes – Brooklyn police officers and fire fighters. Target presented one police officer and one fire fighter with a “Hero of the Heart Award,” which will serve as a special tribute to their dedication to service and the community. 

Fashion newness is all around this fall with interesting merchandising initiatives pitting designers, celebrities and retailers against one another to determine which approach will resonate strongest with consumers.

St. Louis -- Mobile retail and navigation service aisle411 announced that WinCo Foods has deployed the aisle411 platform in its 79 stores.

With the aisle411 App, users can instantly locate products in stores down to the specific section of the aisle, manage shopping lists, share experiences with friends via social media integration, and find mobile coupons.

WinCo operates more than 79 stores and four distribution centers in the states of Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon and Utah.
 

It was steady as she goes for Target and many other retailers in terms of circular promotional activity in August, according to the last marketing insights from Market Track. There were a few instances where the number of pages per circular increased noticeably even if the number of circulars distributed was fairly consistent. For example, Walmart, Safeway and Best Buy saw the largest increase in pages while Lowe’s, JCPenney and Home Depot were the biggest decliners.

HOUSTON — Stage Stores has announced that Mike Searles has joined the company as president and COO of its South Hill division, which is headquartered in South Hill, Va. Searles, who will report to Rich Maloney, EVP and chief merchandising officer, will be responsible for all operations of the South Hill division, including merchandising, planning and allocation, and store operations.

In the month of August, there was an overall 2% decline in pages and 5% decline in inserts per market versus 2010.

Lowes was one of the retailers who slowed promotional activity in 2011, by entirely pulling out two weeks of 2-page inserts and by decreasing their page-per-flyer count by an average of 4 pages.

NEW YORK — Macy's announced that it has partnered with Latina magazine and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with special events and once-in-a-lifetime internship opportunities.

Corte Madera, Calif. -- Restoration Hardware Holdings filed plans to return to the public stock market. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it intends to offer up to $150 million in common shares to repay debt and for general corporate purposes.