aggregatedcontent

Have you ever been browsing the shelves at J.C. Penney and thought to yourself, "Boy, I need a new haircut?" Probably not. But the department store is hoping to change that by reinventing its 850 salons across the U.S. In a new partnership with Time-owned fashion magazine InStyle, Penney's will rebrand its salons into a "modern, cutting-edge salon concept" called The Salon by InStyle. The retailer will launch the project with 15 pilot locations this summer, with the nationwide rollout planned for 2016.

CVS has announced an overhaul of its already top-rated mobile app. The company says the new CVS app provides customers with a more intuitive mobile platform so they can easily access a variety of health management and shopping tools straight from their iPhone or Android devices. The CVS/pharmacy mobile app empowers users to perform key pharmacy and shopping tasks on the go, including refilling prescriptions, checking for potential drug interactions, and choosing to redeem personalized coupons and rewards digitally by sending them to their ExtraCare Rewards cards with the tap of a finger.

Union-led work slowdowns could halt the 29 U.S. West Coast ports in five days to 10 days, the head of the shippers’ association said, urging the union to accept a new offer that includes 3 percent raises. James McKenna, the president of the Pacific Maritime Association, said backups and delays at many of the ports are harming farmers, manufacturers and consumers as the flow of goods approaches a "coastwide meltdown." He called on the International Longshore and Warehouse Union to accept management's second formal contract proposal since negotiations began last May.

In last month's article, "UPS Holiday Preparedness to Cost Merchants Next Season," we reported that UPS planned to introduce new peak holiday shipping rates. The news came as the company warned investors that it had experienced a disappointing fourth quarter and would seek ways to recoup some of the higher costs of meeting peak holiday demand. In its earnings call with analysts on Tuesday, UPS explained how it would try to capture some of those costs, revealing it would implement "peak residential surcharges that are differentiated from our nonpeak time of year on a customer segmented basis."

To expand its fitness empire, Under Armour has again looked online for growth opportunities. The company announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to buy two makers of fitness-tracking apps, MyFitnessPal and Endomondo, for a combined total of $560 million. Together, the deals are the latest move by Under Armour to create an athletics-minded online network, an effort that began with the 2013 acquisition of MapMyFitness for $150 million.

Women's clothing retailer Cache has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after running out of time and money to complete a turnaround. The New York-based company said Wednesday that it will keep running its business, but it also will continue to close stores and sell or renegotiate some of its leases. Cache operates 218 stores, or 20 fewer than it operated in December. The retailer has secured up to $22 million in financing from Salus Capital Partners to keep operating during the bankruptcy proceeding.

Amazon.com announced that it's opened a pickup and drop-off location on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. The company is also offering free one-day shipping for students who ship their purchases to the Purdue store. Amazon said that students "now have a new convenient option for receiving textbooks and college essentials" as well as "a hassle-free way to return textbook rentals and other orders."

Dollar Tree said it may need to divest more stores than expected to satisfy antitrust regulators reviewing its planned acquisition of Family Dollar Stores. Dollar Tree has previously said it expects to divest fewer than 300 stores to satisfy the regulators reviewing a deal that would create the No. 1 discount store chain in the United States. In a filing on Tuesday, the company said the U.S. Federal Trade Commission was reviewing more than 500 stores and that it may identify additional stores for review in the future.

Macy's is planning a bit of a makeover, announcing on Tuesday that it had agreed to buy the beauty and spa chain Bluemercury for $210 million, a move that could help broaden the department store's customer base. Based in Washington, D.C., Bluemercury operates 60 stores in 18 states and has a growing e-commerce business. Macy's, which also owns the Bloomingdale's chain of department stores, said it also planned to bring some Bluemercury boutiques and products to some department store locations.

Staples announced Wednesday that it will acquire Office Depot for $6.3 billion, a move that merges the two largest chain stores selling office supplies. The deal comes as the retailers are seeing massive upheaval in their industry. Demand for paper-based office supplies is dwindling as more business functions move online, and a diverse array of competitors, including Amazon.com and Wal-Mart, are competing to sell these kinds of goods. Together, the brands would have about $39 billion in annual sales and about 4,000 stores. Staples CEO Ron Sargent said that a merger would help the brands compete more effectively.