News

Fashion and fitness come together at Six:02, a  new retail format from Foot Locker. Designed for young, active women, the store offers on-trend athletic apparel, footwear and accessories in a stylish, inviting environment.

The store has a loft-like residential feel, with nesting tables, furniture-inspired fixtures and hardwood floors that reflect the customer’s sense of style while making her feel right at home.   

The Container Store began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol “TCS.” Expectations were high: On Thursday, the retailer set its IPO price at $18 per share, higher than the originally-expected range of $14 to $16 per share.

The company is offering all 12.5 million shares of common stock, with an additional 1.9 million shares 30-day purchase option for the underwriters.

Chicago -- Claire's Stores has entered into a partnership with Dylan's Candy Bar, the world's largest confectionary emporium and lifestyle brand, whereby Claire’s will sell an edited selection of Dylan’s candies. The assortment features nearly 30 items, all under $24 – from lollipops, chocolate bars and fillable gummy bears to cotton candy buckets, cupcake pillows and sweet candy houses

Grocer Harris Teeter credited its pricing and promotional strategies for driving unit sales and customer visits, which led to increased net and same-store sales for fiscal 2013.

For fiscal 2013, sales rose 3.8% to $4.71 billion from $4.54 billion in the year-ago period. Same-store sales for the year increased 2.23%.

Blue Nile, a leading online retailer of diamonds and fine jewelry, experienced its sixth consecutive quarter of double digit growth.

Net sales increased 10.1% to $98.9 million for the third quarter, compared to $89.8 million for the year-ago quarter.

Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced at the SelectUSA 2013 Investment Summit that three suppliers have made new domestic manufacturing commitments that will create 385 jobs.

The move is part of the retailer’s previously announced pledge to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made products over the next decade.

Walmart said that Elan-Polo, Louis Hornick & Company and EveryWare Global will produce footwear, curtains and glassware, respectively.

Publix credited its customer service for helping fuel third-quarter sale sales of $7 billion, a 5.6% increase from last year’s $6.7 billion. Comparable-store sales for the third quarter of 2013 increased 4.1%.

The company reported net earnings for the quarter of $359.9 million, a decrease of 2.3% from $368.4 million in 2012. Earnings per share for the third quarter decreased to $0.46 for 2013, down from $0.47 per share in 2012.

Having laid a foundation of access, transparency and trust since arriving at Walmart U.S. four years ago, chief merchandising and marketing officer Duncan Mac Naughton’s top priority these days is leveraging joint business planning processes with up to 300 key suppliers to tap new growth opportunities.