aggregatedcontent

Hot Topic said late Wednesday that September same-store sales declined 2.6%. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters estimated a decline of 3.5%. Total September sales declined 0.5% to $59 million from a year ago.

__

Coach and Luxottica Group S.p.A. announced the signing of a license agreement for the design, manufacturing and global distribution of sun and prescription eyewear under the Coach, Coach Poppy and Reed Krakoff brands, beginning January 2012. Distribution of Coach eyewear collections will be through Coach stores across the world, through select department stores primarily in North America, Japan, China and East Asia as well as through select travel retail locations, independent optical locations and Luxottica’s retail chains. The multi-year agreement will begin on January 1, 2012.

Kohls Department Stores plans to hire 40,000 seasonal workers for the holidays, a more than 20 percent increase over last year, the company said Wednesday in a news release. The company plans to hire an average of 35 workers for each of its 1,089 stores in addition to 2,200 workers at its distribution centers and 60 workers at its credit operations, the release said. Hiring began this month, and most jobs will be filled by mid-November. Holiday workers can work from a few hours to more than 20 hours a week, and typical jobs include unloading trucks, freight processing,

Tesco PLC said Tuesday that its first-half trading profit (a metric that excludes property gains) climbed to 1.69 billion pounds ($2.67 billion) in the six months ended Aug. 28, as the British grocery giant benefited from recovering economies, particularly in Asia.CEO Terry Leahy said the company’s U.S. division, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, should become profitable in fiscal 2013. A combination of increasing sales per store and a larger network of outlets in California, Arizona and Nevada, will drive the chain to profitability, Leahy said.Fresh & Easy plans to open 19 stores in the second half of the year.

YORK (TheStreet) -- Holiday retail sales are expected to rise a modest 2.3% to $447.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While this growth remains below the 10-year average of a 2.5% increase, it is a significant improvement over last year's 0.4% uptick, and the 3.9% decline in 2008. Of course, shoppers' primary focus will be on price, and retailers are expected to compensate by once again offering significant promotions. Retailers will also leverage sales through new channels, like mobile and social networks. eBay(EBAY), for one, has seen success with its mobile phone applications, while Best Buy(BBY) and

Aéropostale is planning to bring its new P.S. stores to Central Florida, opening one in a Florida mall and another at the Orlando Premium Outlets. The teen retailer last year opened its first P.S. from Aéropostale for kids 7 to 12. It has opened almost 40 of them so far and is expected to have 45 by year's end.

Neiman Marcus is letting shoppers jump from the pages of its catalogs directly into its online shopping platform in one tap via a new iPad application. NM Editions creates a unified platform for viewing all of Neiman Marcus’ publications. Consumers can select and purchase items from the catalogs within the application, which is available for free in Apple’s App Store.

The credit card issuers, in an accord with the Justice Department, will let shopkeepers disclose processing fees to customers and offer discounts to those using cards that carry lower fees.

MediaMind Technologies Inc., the leading independent provider of integrated digital advertising solutions, today released new research on retail titled, “’Tis the Season for Retail: Using Online Display to Boost Store Traffic.” The study reveals that although online retailers double the monthly average on holiday advertising, users are underexposed to retail campaigns.