News

Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings announced plans for its most ambitious expansion program ever with 11 new stores planned for 2016 following a strong fourth quarter performance.

The Midvale, Utah-based operator of 64 stores focused on the categories of hunting, fishing and camping, opened nine stores last year which combined with its strong fourth quarter showing enabled the company to produce record results. The addition of 11 stores this year will give the company, which went public in April 2014, 75 locations in 20 predominantly Western states and Alaska.

Dollar General will break its own record for store expansion in 2017. And that’s saying a lot.

The discounter is already in high gear, with plans to open a record 900 stores and remodel or relocate about 875 existing locations in 2016. But it’s upping the total for 2017, forecasting some 1,000 new stores and 900 remodels or relocations, which is in line with its model of 6% to 8% square footage growth.

Francesca’s says its fourth quarter financial results show that the retailer's growth initiatives are bearing fruit, as the company posted a big jump in same store sales over the holidays.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, same store sales at Francesca's increased 11%. Net sales increased 25% to $134.6 million from $107.6 million in the prior year quarter. Net income totaled $14.7 million, compared to $6 million in the comparable prior year period. 

Five Below is accelerating new store growth again this year and has shared a long-range profit forecast indicating that the value-oriented teen and tween retailer expects accelerating growth to be a recurring theme.

A net increase of 71 new stores last year – on top of 62 units the prior year – enabled Five Below to increase sales 23.7% to $326.4 million in the fourth quarter and 22.3% to $832 million during the fiscal year ended Jan. 30. Also contributing to the top line growth was a fourth quarter same store sales increase of 3.6% and a full year increase of 3.4%.

Home furnishings retailer RH is rolling out a new membership program that aims to reimagine the luxury shopping experience by adding an element of exclusivity.

The company has announced the launch of the RH Grey Card. For a $100 annual fee, the RH Grey Card provides 25% savings on everything RH, every day, across all of its brands – RH, RH Modern, RH Baby & Child, RH TEEN and RH Contemporary Art.

Democracy Works, a non-partisan, non-profit organization, said on Wednesday it is teaming up with an array of companies, including Starbucks, Target and Westfield Corp., in an effort to boost U.S. voter turnout to 80% by 2020.

The project, called the TurboVote Challenge, is ambitious. The last time the U.S. achieved a voter turnout rate over 80% was in 1888. An estimated 57.5% of eligible citizens voted in the 2012 presidential election.

The latest retail security breach may have exposed personal information of workers, rather than customers. According to The Denver Channel, a payroll employee of Phoenix-based, 220-plus-store Sprouts Farmers Markets provided W-2 tax form information from an unspecified number of the retailer’s personnel in response to a request in a fraudulent “phishing” email claiming to be from a company executive. The FBI and IRS are investigating the breach with cooperation from Sprouts.

Nordstrom Inc. has named Kumar Srinivasan, a former technology executive at Amazon.com who has also experience with e-commerce technology providers, as CTO.

Srinivasan served as VP of Amazon Web Services from 2005-2008 and general manager of Amazon Payments from 2008-2010. More recently, he co-founded SaaS-based customer engagement platform Evocalize in 2012. Srinivasan also served as CTO of consumer-generated content platform Bazaarvoice from 2011-2012 and chief product and technology officer of social commerce site Lockerz.com from 2010-2011.

Target Corp. has reached an important milestone in its journey to launching a new retail accelerator in partnership with Boulder, Colorado-based start-up accelerator Techstars.

Target initially announced the new accelerator, expected to launch in June 2016, last October. The retailer has now closed the application process, after receiving applications from more than 500 technology start-ups in 45 countries and 32 states. Ideas submitted include connected toys and virtual fitting rooms.

Market expansion into the Minneapolis market may be the next step for Meijer, The Grand Rapids Press reported last week, confirming that the grocer acquired 30 acres of land in a Twin City suburb. "I can confirm Meijer has purchased property in Brooklyn Park, Minn.," Frank Guglielmi, Meijer senior director communications, told The Grand Rapids Press.