News

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Golfsmith International is teeing up for the opening of its first Xtreme golf store in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The 35,000-sq.-ft. space has been designed to encourage customers to try out products in an interactive hi-tech environment before they buy.

LONDON — The International Council of Shopping Centers’ executive committee has elected Marcus Wild, CEO of SES Spar European Shopping Centers, as divisional VP for the association’s European division. 

CHICAGO — Cause Marketing Forum on Wednesday named America’s Checkout Charity Champions, a first-of-its-kind study ranking the largest consumer checkout donations in the United States last year.

ABILENE, Kan. — Broad-line retailer Alco Stores has promoted Ricardo Clemente to SVP of human resources, store operations and loss prevention.

Clemente, who graduated from New Mexico State University with a bachelor of science degree in biology and business management, has more than 20 years of retail experience. He joined Alco Stores in 2011 as a district manager. Since then he has held increasingly responsible positions, serving most recently as VP of stores and human resources.

ATLANTA — Coregistics, a packaging supply chain services company, has acquired Cano Packaging, a Chicago-area company that specializes in primary contract packaging services for food and confectionary manufacturers.

Fayetteville, N.C., is the next stop for Walmart’s Saluting Heroes Together campaign, which together with Operation Homefront, aims to honor the men and women who have served or are currently serving in the military, as well as their families. 

New York -- Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. reported better-than-expected net income of $101.1 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $43.6 million, on strong demand for its products around the globe.

Retail net sales increased 58.8% to $272.7 million driven by a 36.7% increase in comparable store sales and 67 net new store openings since the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012.

Wholesale net sales increased 59.4% to $304.7 million and licensing revenue increased 15.7% to $19.8 million.

New York -- Fleur du Mal, a recently launched online retailer of women’s specialty apparel, is deploying the Usablenet U-Experience platform and Acadaca e-commerce platform to support a new personalized mobile web shopping experience for its customers. The site is optimized for fast mobile navigation and has dynamic feeds to and direct integration with Instagram and Twitter.

Columbus, Ohio -- DSW Inc. experienced drops in both net income and same-store sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. Net income declined about 13%, dropping to $34.5 million from $39.9 million in the year-ago period, amid hefty one-time charges. Its results, however, beat analyst expectations.

For the quarter ended May 4, same-store sales declined 2.4%. In one bright spot, sales rose almost 8% to $601.4 million, from $558.6 million.

Greensboro, N.C. -- The Fresh Market Inc. grew net income, same-store sales and net sales during first quarter 2013. Net income rose 14% to $22.1 million, from $19.3 million in the prior year.

Net sales jumped 13% to $366.6 million.