News

Michaels is looking for fine artists
Michaels is teaming up with two of the world's biggest names in fine art to sponsor an omnichannel promotion for artists.

Michaels' Art Challenge: A Fine Art Competition will accept images of original artworks in oil or acrylic paint on canvas or watercolor on watercolor paper beginning July 26 and continuing through Aug. 15 at Michaels.com/artchallenge or in Canada at Canada.Michaels.com/artchallenge.
Dollar Tree names a new COO
Dollar Tree Inc. has promoted one of its senior executives to be its next chief operating officer.

The company announced that Michael Witynski has been named COO and be responsible for store operations of Dollar Tree bannered stores in the United States, real estate for Dollar Tree bannered stores in the U.S. and all retail operations and real estate in Canada.

Stride Right unveils rebranding effort

Stride Rite is revamping its brand platform to implement product and service improvements, including an exclusive line of footwear at Target.
No discount on IPO for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet raised $143 million in a wildly successful initial public stock offering that positions the company for steady expansion of its 181 unit store base beyond core markets.

Ollie’s co-founder and CEO Mark Butler told Retailing Today that although the company has identified 950 suitable store locations, proceeds from the IPO will be used to repay debt and the company will maintain a measured pace of expansion.
Best Buy on board with Obama initiative

Under the auspices of ensuring digital opportunity for all Americans, Best Buy has aligned itself with President Barack Obama and several service providers on wide-ranging initiative to improve high speed Internet access.

The program, called ConnectHome, was unveiled by the president on July 15 during a visit to Durant, Okla., and involves 275,000 households with nearly 200,000 children in 27 cities.
Survey reveals millennials’ fave stores

New York -- A new survey reveals the favorite shopping destinations of millenial shoppers and what factors drive their purchases.

Zara, H&M and Urban Outfitters ranked as the favorite stores among millennials, according to a survey conducted by LIM College professors Robert Conrad, MBA and Kenneth M. Kambara, Ph.D. (LIM, based in Manhattan, is focused exclusively on the study of business and fashion.)
Birchbox gets real — with virtual reality

New York - Online beauty and grooming subscription retailer Birchbox is the latest brand to dip into virtual reality.
NRF: Back-to-school shoppers take studied approach

Washington, D.C. - Parents this year will be a little more cautious about their back-to-school spending.

According to NRF’s Back-to-School Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average family with children in grades K-12 plans to spend $630.36 on school needs.
Mattress Firm gives customers credit

Houston – Mattress Firm Inc. is giving its customers credit.
MasterCard takes on world with MasterPass

Munich, Germany – There is more news in the fast-growing digital wallet sector.

MasterCard and payment gateway solution provider Pay.On are partnering to make the MasterPass digital wallet application available to more than 110 payment service providers (PSPs) via Pay.On’s white label global payment gateway. MasterPass is now available to more than 56,000 Web shops worldwide that route payments through Pay.On’s partners.
PayPal to join prestigious stock indices

San Jose, Calif. – PayPal Holdings Inc. is still not officially an independent company, but is getting some serious respect from the investment world.

Once PayPal splits from parent company eBay and starts trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under “PYPL” (expected July 17), it will be listed on several prominent stock indices.
Kid City stores become more convenient

Montreal – Mall-based discount children’s apparel retailer Youngland Kiddie Shops has implemented cloud-based retail technology solutions from Aptos Inc. (formerly Epicor Retail) to improve the customer experience.