News

Santa.com could be holiday gift for some retailer
The value of a super premium domain name that people instinctively visit during the holidays will be revealed soon as a leading asset disposition firm looks to extract maximum value for Santa.com.
Build-A-Bear builds a new store format in Minnesota
Build-A-Bear Workshop is embarking on an effort to make its iconic in-store experience more fun than ever for kids of all ages with the opening of a new format at America's largest shopping mall.

Part of a company-wide brand refresh, the reformatted store, located on the first level in the north wing, officially re-opened its doors this morning after a multi-month renovation. The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured special guests from Parents in Community Action, Inc., a private, nonprofit that operates Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Hennepin County, Minn.

Cost Plus contest is a passport to Italy

Cost Plus World Market is launching a contest aimed at its core shopper market.
Shoe Carnival eyes, ‘tremendous untapped opportunity’

New market entries, a newly developed small format and ambitious omnichannel efforts have family footwear retailer Shoe Carnival on a trajectory to surpass $1 billion in annual sales.
Macy's does off-price different in New York City

When Macy’s officially unveiled its first off-price stores in New York City on Wednesday, the retailer debuted some new features not commonly found in other discount stores.
Staples 'thinks up' a way to support education in NYC

Staples is injecting more starpower into its latest promotion aimed at supporting education.

The retailer is building on its decades-long support of teachers, students and education by funding 176 local classroom projects in New York City, as part of its recent $10 million pledge to Think It Up, a new national initiative of the Entertainment Industry Foundation that seeks to inaugurate a new movement in support of students, teachers and schools, helping to create a culture of excitement about learning everywhere in America.
E-commerce gets real with patent 8,788,445

Retailers’ quest to offer shoppers a personalized experience just took a step forward thanks to a newly issue patent designed to detect and eliminate non-human Web traffic.
Kmart fined for offering discounts to Medicare users

Kmart has paid the U.S.
GameStop gets into the collectibles business

Online retailer ThinkGeek is teaming up with GameStop on a new concept retail store focused entirely on collectibles.

The first store will open in the Florida Mall in Orlando on Sept. 25.
Shoe Carnival celebrates profit hike in Q2, plans new stores

Evansville, Ind. -- Shoe Carnival Inc. kicked up its heels about its profit in the second quarter, but missed on sales.

Aided by higher merchandise margins and lower advertising expenses, Shoe Carnival reported net earnings of $4.8 million, up 84% from $2.6 million a year earlier. Its results easily beat estimates.

Net sales rose 2% $227.8 million, less than expected, from $222.1 million. Same-store sales rose 0.5%.

Shoe Carnival plans to open 21 new stores and close 15 stores by the end of fiscal 2015.
NRF offers retailers help with new holiday planning playbook

Washington, D.C. -- Retailers will reveal their 2015 holiday strategies in the weeks ahead and as they do so the National Retail Federation is offering a powerful new resource filled with industry best practices to benchmark against for this year and beyond.

The newly released report, called the 2015 Holiday Planning Playbook, was compiled by top retailers over the course of the past year who served on various NRF councils focused on retail industry disciplines.
Millennials choose retailers for different reasons than elders

Los Angeles – Millennial consumers choose retailers based on different criteria than their elders. A survey of more than 13,000 e-commerce shoppers by Bizrate Insights found that millennials are by far the most price-sensitive with low pricing driving their choice of retailer.