News

MINNEAPOLIS — Lowe's has teamed up with Valspar to launch an expanded paint program to serve the  needs of the professional painter. The program includes a comprehensive lineup of Valspar-branded professional grade products in multiple formulations and finishes that simplifies paint selection while delivering on the durability and performance requirements of professional painters.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. — QVC and the Fashion Footwear Association of New York have announced a $140,000 grant to fund research at The Wistar Institute on a specific and deadly form of breast cancer called triple negative.

Burlington, Mass. -- Avenue Stores Demandware has selected the Demandware Commerce platform to support its omni-channel vision.  

Avenue Stores signed with Demandware in first quarter 2013.

Avenue needed a scalable and comprehensive digital commerce platform to realize its omni-channel vision, and will also utilize Demandware’s web design capabilities to optimize its sites for mobile and tablet commerce, as well as explore opportunities to integrate digital into its brick-and-mortar stores.  

The Home Depot is bringing back its Spring Black Friday event, which it describes as a weekend of regional savings on hundreds.

The sales begin April 4.           

"We see increased traffic in our stores during the spring season as customers kick-off their home improvement projects," said Craig Menear, executive VP merchandising. "In a recovering housing market, we know our consumers are continuing to look for ways to affordably improve their homes.”

RICHARDSON, Texas — Best Buy has partnered with Samsung Electronics to install Samsung Experience Shops in more than 1,400 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile specialty stores across the United States beginning this month. By early May, 900 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile specialty stores will feature the Samsung Experience Shop, with the remainder launching by early summer.

TULSA, Okla. — Real estate auction company AmeriBid LLC announced that John Pellow, previously chief marketing officer, has been promoted to VP. 

"We are thrilled to have John's expertise and commitment to client service on the sales team at AmeriBid," comments Stan Schreyer, Chief Executive Officer. "There is no doubt that he will continue to drive success within the company and achieve significant goals in the process."

Food Network personality Paula Deen may not have a reputation for healthy cooking, but that’s not stopping her from traveling to Walmart’s hometown this weekend to participate in American Heart Association activities and receive a key to the city.

Deen and her husband Michael Groover will accept the key to Bentonville from Mayor Bob McCaslin on Friday afternoon and later in the evening Deen will guest at a kick-off event and reception supporting the American Heart Association’s Southwest Chapter.

CAMP HILL, Pa. — Same-store sales at Rite Aid decreased 2% in March, including a 3.8% increase in same-store sales on the front end and a 4.5% decrease in pharmacy sales.

The 4,621-store chain reported total sales for the month of $1.939 billion, a 2.5% decrease compared with $1.989 billion in March 2012, while same-store prescription count increased 0.3%.

The company said that of the 3.8% increase in front-end same-store sales, 3% came from a shift in timing of Easter, which fell on March 31, as opposed to April 8 last year.

MERRIMACK, N.H. — Brookstone announced that it has accepted the resignation of Stephen Bebis, its president and CEO and a member of the company's board of directors. Bebis' resignation will be effective April 4. Bebis joined Brookstone in May 2012.  

Effective upon Bebis' resignation, James M. Speltz, the company's VP, COO has been appointed as the company's new president and CEO.

AUSTIN, Texas — SecureNet Payment Systems, an innovative payment technology company directly connected to the major card networks, announced the company has exceeded $19 billion in annual transaction volume and increased its number of merchant partners to over 16,000. Additionally, SecureNet announced four new merchant service provider partnerships that will greatly expand the company's rapidly growing network of partners.