News

Sport Chek has opened a flagship in the largest shopping mall in North America: West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). The sporting goods retailer has woven interactive technology and digital installations throughout the 80,000-sq.-ft. space, which is designed to offer a personalized shopping experience that connects consumers to the sports they are passionate about.

Former Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke is among an impressive roster of top business executives slated to participate in a Wall Street Journal executive conference called ECO:nomics — Creating Environmental Capital.

The event, scheduled for April 2-4 at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, Calif., is billed as a day of no holds barred interviews in an interactive format that offers unparalleled networking.

New York -- Shopko is leveraging social media to promote its expanded assortment of national brands. The retailer is holding an eight-week Facebook contest offering participants a chance to win prize packages associated with the featrued brands.

Coupons.com has appointed Lance M. Meyerowich as the company’s VP of investor relations. Meyerowich, who has two decades of experience on Wall Street, will report to CFO and chief operating officer Mir Aamir.

“Lance is extremely well known and respected in the financial community,” said Aamir. “I’m thrilled that he’s joining our growing team.”

Government regulators tend to complicate retailers’ lives more often than not, but one federal agency is winning praise from a key trade group for its common sense approach to compliance.

Yesterday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its Notice of Data Availability (NODA) as part of its process to improve existing regulations that have been applied to the handling of unsold or returned consumer products at retail facilities. The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) released the following statement today in response to EPA’s notice.

San Diego - For the month of January 2014, net sales at PriceSmart increased 11.5% to $193.5 million from $173.5 million in January a year earlier. For the four weeks ended Jan. 26, 2014, same-store sales for the 30 warehouse clubs open at least 13 1/2 full months increased 8.4%, compared to the same four-week period last year.

There were 32 warehouse clubs in operation at the end of January 2014, compared to 30 warehouse clubs in operation in January 2013.

Rick Herring, president of Ahold USA’s Giant Carlisle Division, plans to retire, effective Feb. 14.

Herring has been at Ahold for nearly 25 years and the company credits him with having made many contributions to the organization.

“We would like to thank Rick for his numerous contributions to our companies, as well as for his leadership, dedication and years of service," stated James McCann, Ahold USA COO. "We wish him all the best in this next phase of his life and career.”

Seattle – Amazon.com is reportedly using image recognition technology to allow consumers to wave an iPhone in front of a product and automatically have it placed on their Amazon shopping list. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, this feature uses the iPhone’s built-in camera, eliminating the need for barcode or QR code scanning.