News

Hasbro and Electronic Arts have taken their relationship to the next level and extended their agreement, which will see EA develop several of Hasbro’s bestselling gaming brands for mobile platforms globally. 

Seattle – Nordstrom is expanding a trial of marking the items in its stores that receive the most pins on Pinterest with small “P” logos. As reported by BusinessWeek, Nordstrom is taking the pilot from two to 13 stores.

Nordstrom, which has 4.5 million Pinterest followers, gives store associates access to an online dashboard that notifies which items the store has in stock are most pinned in their geographic area. The pilot is expected to conclude later this month.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. has appointed former senator and secretary of the interior Kenneth Salazar to its board of directors. He replaces Mary Dillon, who resigned from the board last month after being named CEO of Ulta Beauty.

Salazar, who recently began working for the law firm WilmerHale, served as a Democratic member of the Senate from Colorado from 2005 to 2009 and as interior secretary under the Obama administration from 2009 until earlier this year, when he was replaced by Sally Jewell. 

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax is taking its new Business Solutions Center store concept to Chicago’s business-rich Streeterville neighborhood later this summer. The retailer opened its first center in Milwaukee back in April to test the pilot concept. 

The currently unoccupied street-level location at 550 St. Clair St. will give the retailer 3,900-sq.-ft. of retail space where it will be able to showcase business services, solutions and products to help local entrepreneurs grow their businesses. 

New York -- Martha Stewart has agreed to reduce her annual base salary by $200,000 to $1.8 million.

Stewart, founder and chairwoman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., also gave the green light to allow the company to reduce her annual licensing fee by $300,000 to $1.7 million, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

The cuts, according to company executives, are “consistent with their plan to return ... to profitability.”

MSLO reported a net loss of $3.27 million for the first quarter ended March 31.

CORTE MADERA, Calif. — Restoration Hardware is a company one tends to associate with high-end home furnishings, but the company is expanding into new territory. RH recently launched Hierarchy — an apparel, accessories and footwear brand — and has edited its executive leadership team as a result.

The Von Maur department store chain was founded 140 years ago and less than a month from now the company will open its 27th store in Coralville, Iowa.
 
The 80,000-sq.-ft. freestanding store will be located at the Iowa River Landing retail development and feature the company’s signature exterior entrance and resident ambience.

Peru tends to be a logical new market for many Chilean retailers and Walmart will be next, according to unconfirmed reports from a company executive who spoke to Reuters.

The news agency this week said Walmart, which is already one of the leading retailers in Chile, will begin work this year to open stores in Peru and plans to form a local management team. As expected, Walmart denied the report but did acknowledge it planned to run a quality assurance office in Peru for procuring products.