News

Crowdsourced grocery delivery provider Instacart is expanding its same day and one-hour service to new markets after receiving $44 million in funding from some big name Silicon Valley investors.

Quill Ideas is the name of a new crowdsourcing platform the online division of Staples launched for customers and employees to share ideas in new and interesting ways.

Quill.com, acquired by Staples in 1998, is calling Quill Ideas an online-innovation community that is designed to solicit and implement ideas, review and rank them based on various protocols and then implement those that score the highest. A soft launch that began two weeks ago has already garnered more than 13,000 interactions made up of ideas, votes and comments, according to the company.

NEW YORK — P.F. Chang's Chain Bistro confirmed Friday that it had been the victim of a data breach in which data was stolen from customers’ credit and debit cards used at its restaurants.

Hopkinton, Mass. — Global consumers want the benefits of digital technology but don’t want to trade any of their privacy to obtain it. According to the EMC Privacy Index, a survey of 15,000 consumers in 15 countries by EMC, 91% of consumers value the benefit of "easier access to information and knowledge" that digital technology affords.

Wayne, N.J. — Toys “R” Us reported a net loss of $196 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, up from a $111 million net loss in the year-ago period, amid a decrease in income tax benefit and  rise in expenses that included investments in e-commerce and U.S. store maintenance. But the struggling retailer saw its sales improve.

Columbus, Ohio — Express Inc. confirmed that it has received a letter from Sycamore Partners, which owns approximately 9.9% of Express' outstanding shares, indicating that the private equity firm is interested in acquiring the company. In response, Express adopted a one-year “poison pill” shareholder rights plan that would double its shares of common stock in the event any stockholder acquires 10% or more of the company.

Pittsburgh — Michael M. Nuzzo, executive VP and CFO of GNC Holdings Inc., is resigning in order to accept an executive position at an unspecified private equity-funded consumer products company. Nuzzo will remain with GNC at least through July 18, 2014, which will include preparation of its second quarter 2014 earnings release and 10Q.

City of Commerce, Calif. — 99 Cents Only Stores LLC reported net income of $9.57 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, up from $897,000 in the same quarter a year earlier. 

Net sales rose $477.9 million, up 7% from $445.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014. 

Dodgeville, Wis. — Lands' End is launching its "Set Sail" omnichannel sweepstakes. The contest allows customers to play a virtual tic-tac-toe game on Lands’ End’s e-commerce and Facebook pages, with the chance to win gift cards.

One random winner will receive then grand prize getaway, which includes round-trip airfare for four people to Miami and five nights' accommodations. The contest runs June 12-July 12.

St. Louis — Panera Bread Company has secured a five-year $100 million term loan from Bank of America, Wells Fargo and TD Bank. Proceeds from the loan will be used for general corporate purposes, including a range of growth initiatives such as the rollout of the Panera 2.0 in-store technology initiative.