News

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Co. announced Wednesday it will acquire specialty tea chain Teavana Holdings for $620 million in a move to gain traction in the $40 billion global tea industry.

According to Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz, the coffee company plans to grow and expand Teavana’s 300 mall-based stores as well as add a neighborhood store concept to accelerate Teavana’s domestic and global footprint.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Dick’s Sporting Goods has announced its first-ever "Get Winter Ready" consumer promotion.

Dick’s has teamed up with The North Face and Columbia Sportswear as part of the program's sweepstakes, and will be giving away two one-of-kind prize packages. One includes a chance to join professional skier Tom Wallisch at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., and the other offers a VIP experience at the 2013 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup in Park City, Utah.

Kearney, Neb. -- The Buckle reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Oct. 27 rose 9% to $41.9 million, boosted by online strength and higher same-store sales.

Overall revenue rose 4% to $284.1 million, beating Wall Street’s predicted $282.8 million. Same-store sales climbed 2.4%.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Kellogg plans to debut new snacks, including cereal bars, crackers, crisps and cookies, in 2013.

"We have such a strong line-up of snack brands, including Pringles, Cheez-it, Special K, Keebler and Nutri-Grain," said Alan Gravely, SVP of marketing and innovation for Kellogg Snacks. "So we are building off these brands with new products that reflect our deep understanding of people's evolving taste preferences and nutrition needs."

Columbus, Ohio -- Limited Brands Inc. reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Oct. 27 dropped to $73.4 million from $94.3 million in the same quarter last year. Results still managed to beat Wall Street expectations.

Limited, which also owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, saw sales slip 5.7% to $2.05 billion from $2.17 billion, but results matched analysts’ forecasts. Same-store sales climbed 5%.

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Family Dollar is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for families this holiday season.

The company plans to have in stock hundreds of toys and gifts priced at $10 or less at its more than 7,000 nationwide locations. The single price point strategy is designed to appeal to the large segment of shoppers hard-hit by the economy and who need stretch their holiday budgets.

Hoffman Estates,Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp.'s third-quarter loss widened amid declining sales and higher tax expenses.

For the quarter ended Oct. 27, Sears reported a loss of $498 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $421 million.

Revenue slipped 5.8%, to $8.86 billion, primarily due to the effect of having fewer Kmart and Sears stores in operation and lower domestic comparable store sales for the quarter.

Broad-based strength at PetSmart enabled the nation’s leading pet specialty retailer to produce a third quarter same store sales increase of 6.5% and grow profits by 50%.

The company said total sales for the period ended October 28 increased 9% to $1.6 billion, net income increased 46% to $82 million and earnings per share increased 50% to 75 cents, well ahead of the 63 cents analysts were expecting. PetSmart ended the quarter with 1,269 stores.