News

By Nancy Chisholm, [email protected]

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Mattel has renamed its design center at its Southern California headquarters the Handler Team Center in honor of founders Ruth and Elliot Handler.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The storage solutions category at Office Depot got some new brand muscle this week as the company added Rubbermaid to the mix.

Rubbermaid products are now available nationwide at Office Depot stores and online at the retailer’s website. The announcement comes as promotional activity heats up around the back-to-college season which tends to start earlier and feature different product categories than K-through-12 back-to-school efforts.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target has donated $15,000 in monetary support and product to assist with Duluth flood relief efforts. A $10,000 cash donation was given to the American Red Cross Northland Chapter to support their response efforts. An additional $5,000 in gift cards will be donated to local nonprofit organizations for essentials such as water and food.

NEW YORK — American Eagle Outfitters has engaged "real," as opposed to well-known celebrities, as the faces of its new back-to-school campaign.

The "Live Your Life" campaign will feature 15 people -- from fashion bloggers and stylists to musicians and actors -- each modeling a style of American Eagle Outfitters jeans.

PITTSBURGH — The Dick's Sporting Goods Foundation, quarterback Drew Brees and imPACT for PACE (Protecting Athletes through Concussion Education) have joined forces to help educate athletes at all levels of the dangers of concussions.

BELLEVUE, Wash. and GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. — Dollar General is offering customers a broader variety of prepaid mobile services through a new agreement with T-Mobile. Beginning in July, more than 6,400 Dollar General stores will offer numerous T-Mobile prepaid plan options and the Samsung t139 phone, which features messaging, web browsing, a camera and Bluetooth connectivity.

GRAPEVINE, Texas — GameStop has launched its GameStock 2012 campaign, which will offer customers six weeks of deals, instant win prizes and VIP grand prizes.

With any purchase or trade throughout the duration of GameStock, customers will receive a game piece containing a unique code. By entering that code at www.GameStop.com/GameStock, customers get the chance to win weekly grand prizes including:

•     Custom Painted Sleeping Dogs Motorcycle

MOORESVILLE, N.C — Former Whirlpool executive, Kevin Summers, has been appointed chief information officer of Lowe's, effective July 9. Summers will report to chairman, president and CEO Robert Niblock. He replaces Michael Brown, who retired earlier this month.

Online measurement firm comScore is out with its top 50 web properties report and Walmart.com must be doing something right judging from a surge in traffic.

Walmart.com was ranked 24th on the top 50 list for May with 42.4 million unique visitors, a 9% increase from the prior month when comScore showed Walmart.com had 38.8 million unique visitors in April. The gain in web traffic over the same month the prior year is even more substantial as Walmart.com registered a 26.2% increase from a May 2011 unique visitor total of 33.6 million.