News

Lululemon opens way for founder Chip Wilson to sell stake New York
New York — Chip Wilson, the controversial founder of Lululemon Athletic Inc., may well be on the verge of selling his stake in the company, according to numerous reports. Lululemon, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, filed a 20.1 million share offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, allowing Wilson and his wife to exit their roughly 14% stake. The couple's stake in the company was worth about $1.34 billion, Reuters reported.
Restoration Hardware builds more momentum
Restoration Hardware earnings surged in the first quarter on strong sales, giving a boost to the company as it embarks on expanding its business with new stores with larger showrooms.

For the first quarter ended May 2, Restoration Hardware reported a profit of $7.2 million, or 17 cents a share, up from $1.8 million, or four cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding tax impacts, a prior-year litigation claim and other items, per-share earnings rose to 23 cents from 18 cents. Revenue increased 15% to $422.4 million.

Survey: Half of credit card holders don’t care about rewards

New York — If credit card issuers stopped offering rewards, a slight majority of American credit cardholders wouldn’t change their spending habits. According to a new Bankrate.com survey, 51% of U.S. credit card holders say they would keep using the card the same way they did previously. Another 26% would use the card less often and 19% would stop using it entirely.
Batteries Plus Bulbs teams with Ingenico on EMV

Batteries Plus Bulbs is upgrading its payment terminals and software to prepare for the EMV liability shift at its 650 U.S. locations.

The retailer says it has chosen the Ingenico Group's solution, which enables Batteries Plus Bulbs stores to securely accept magstripe debit and credit payment cards, and positions the stores to accept virtually any form of payment including EMV chip & sign, EMV chip & pin, contactless/NFC and other types of mobile wallets in the future.
Hudson’s Bay swings to Q1 loss, will open 12-15 stores in 2015

Toronto, Canada – Hudson’s Bay Co. Inc. (HBC) swung a net loss of $54 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 from net earnings of $176 million in the year-ago period amid higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses even as as sales showed strong improvement.
Lululemon strikes profitable pose in Q1

Vancouver – Lululemon Athletica Inc. struck a pose of profitability in the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Net income more than doubled to $47.8 million from $19 million a year earlier, aided by the elimination of a tax expense.

Net revenue increased 10% to $423.5 million, from $384.6 million. A 27% hike in direct-to-consumer net revenue, which now represents 20% of total company revenue, helped drive the overall improvement. Same-store sales dropped 1%.
Men's Wearhouse to operate 300 Macy's tuxedo shops

The Men's Wearhouse has signed a 10-year agreement with Macy's, Inc. to operate men's tuxedo rental shops inside 300 Macy's stores.

No other terms of the agreement were disclosed.

Doug Ewert, Men's Wearhouse chief executive officer, said: "As the nation's leading provider of tuxedo rental products and services, we are very excited to team with Macy's for the next decade to provide their customers with exceptional tuxedo rental services inside of 300 Macy's stores across the country."
Bloomingdale’s CEO Talks Retail: 10 Take-Aways

New York -- Bloomingdale’s chairman and CEO Tony Spring talked about one of the company’s top-selling products (frozen yogurt!) and much more on Tuesday at the Retail Marketing Society’s “Reinventing the Store” conference in New York.

Here are 10 take-away quotes from his presentation:

“Our Forty Carrots frozen yogurt is one of our best-selling items. We have customers who come into our store five times a week for it.”
Food Lion to donate more than 1M meals

Food Lion is celebrating the anniversary of its hunger relief program by donating more than 1 million meals.

In year 1 of the Food Lion Feeds program, the grocer donated more than 62 million meals and is on target to meet its commitment to donate 500 million meals throughout its 10-state operating area by the end of 2020.
Whole Foods lauded for animal welfare practices

Whole Foods Market, whose mission includes a promise toward the humane treatment of animals, is winning accolades for its animal welfare practices.

The company has been recognized with a Good Sow Commendation and a Global Good Egg Award from Compassion in World Farming.