News

Hollister plans to open the Hollister House this summer from Memorial Day weekend through early August. The brand, rooted in Southern California, will feature new summer styles and host music performances at the beach house all summer long.

The lineup of musical artists includes Ariana Grande, Chromeo (DJ set), Cody Simpson, Lucy Hale, MKTO, Timeflies and Zendaya.

New York -- Chain Store Age will host a webinar sponsored by Voltage Security on the steps retailers can take to secure their store and online networks against costly data breaches. Speakers will also discuss key lessons learned from the recent breaches, and the latest developments in data security and retail fraud protection.
   

Toronto -- Hudson’s Bay Company named Paul V. Beesley as CFO, effective in June.

Beesley is a senior executive with extensive experience in financial management and strategic development across a range of leading Canadian-based companies. From 2000 to 2014, he served in a number of executive roles with Empire Company Limited, a corporation with annual sales in excess of $19 billion and operations in retailing and related real estate, including chief corporate development officer of the Sobeys unit and executive VP and CFO of Empire.

Washington, D.C. -- Import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 3.5% in May as negotiators prepare to begin talks on a new contract for West Coast dockworkers, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Cupertino, Calif. -- Voltage Security announced a new product integration with device manufacturer Uniform Industrial Corp. (UIC) that provides end-to-end data encryption for the retail payments industry, a key technology in light of the recent data breaches. (Chain Store Age will host a Webinar on data security sponsored by Voltage Security, “Lessons Learned: What to Do NOW to Protect Stores Against Data Breaches,” on May 13. Register here.)

Atlanta – Manhattan Associates is releasing new mobile and transportation management solutions. The supply chain technology vendor announced the new applications at its Momentum 2014 conference in Hollywood, Florida, May 5-8.

Overland Park, Kan. -- Sprint Wholesale Solutions announced the launch of Sprint Panorama, a service that leverages industry insights to help retailers expand their appeal to customers by incorporating their own branded wireless service into their list of goods and services. With Sprint Panorama, the Sprint Wholesale Solutions sales team assists brands by addressing their wireless objectives enabling them to seize new opportunities, differentiate and grow through mobility.
 

Ottawa, Canada -- 360pi, a leading provider of retail price and product intelligence, announced a collaborative effort with SAS, a leader in business analytics software and services. The goal is to allow retailers who combine 360pi's competitive price intelligence with SAS' revenue optimization engine to gain full real-time visibility into competitive pricing to make more profitable pricing decisions.

Washington, D.C. -- More than two-thirds of U.S. shoppers will buy gift cards during the spring and summer seasons, according to a just-released survey by the Retail Gift Card Association.

Buying occasions include Mother’s Day, graduation and weddings. Key findings of the RGCA spring and summer gift card study, which polled more than 1,100 American shoppers, include:

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings reported that net income for the quarter ended March 31 dipped to $69.9 million, from $72.6 million in the year-ago period.

Retail revenue grew 3.1% to $509.0 million, compared to $493.5 million for first quarter 2013, driven primarily by strength from the e-commerce sector. Consolidated revenue edged up 1.9% to $677.3 million. Same-store sales decreased 0.7%.