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DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Jo-Ann Stores Inc. (JAS) swung to a fiscal second-quarter profit as the fabric and craft retailer posted higher sales and improved margins, leading results to easily top Wall Street's expectations.

Performance Bicycle said Tuesday it has appointed James Hilyard as VP visual merchandising for the specialty bike retailer.In his new role, Hilyard will be responsible for guiding store design and guest experience. He was previously director of signing at Sears Holdings Corp., and has held visual merchandising positions with ShopKo, Golfsmith, and Kinko’s, now FedEx Office.Performance Bicycle operates more than 95 nationwide stores that cater to both the avid biking enthusiast and the recreational rider. It is majority owned by North Castle Partners of Greenwich, Conn.

Gap said Tuesday it has set up an online site for Canadian customers to shop from its Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy stores.The company built a center in Bolton, Ontario, to fulfill orders. Customers will not have to pay import or customs duties, according to Gap.Earlier this month, the company announced for the first time that it was offering international shipping to 55 countries, allowing customers in Australia, Mexico, Brazil to order from its brands. By the end of the year, the retailer has said it will make online shopping available in up to 65 countries.

Overstock.com announced the launch of Eziba.com, a private sale website. Eziba.com features daily deals on the home decor products from many leading brands. The products will be offered in daily sale events starting each day at 11:00 Eastern Time. Each sale will last between 48 and 72 hours. A spokesperson said Eziba would not be adding categories beyond home decor at this time, and said no other private sale sites are being developed. Eziba.com is not accessible through the Overstock.com homepage, but customers can sign up on Eziba.com using their Overstock.com log-in information. As with Overstock.com orders, an entire

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A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday approved a Maryland company’s $12.8 million bid to buy Greenwood’s Park Seed Co., a 140-year-old company that employs more than 200 people. Blackstreet Capital bought the company after a four-hour bankruptcy auction that pushed up the bid by more than $5 million. Creditors supported Blackstreet Capital’s bid. Blackstreet’s first bid was $7.1 million for Park Seed and early offers from other companies were as low as $1 million. “We are excited by the opportunity to save this great company and help it return to profitability,” said Aldus H. Chapin, managing director of Blackstreet

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NEW YORK -- Barnes & Noble Inc. said Tuesday it swung to a first-quarter loss of $62.5 million, or $1.12 a share, from net income of $12.3 million, or 21 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The book seller said its adjusted loss of $1.02 a share, was in line with its forecasted range. Total sales rose 21% to $1.4 billion. Wall Street analysts expected the company to lose 80 cents a share, with revenue of $1.4 billion, according to a survey by FactSet Research. The company expects a second-quarter loss of 5 cents a share to 25

Tuesday Morning Corp. said Monday that it returned to a fourth-quarter profit as sales climbed and more shoppers visited the store, spending slightly more when they did. For the three-month period that ended in June 30, the retailer earned $1.3 million, compared with a loss of $1.6 million a year earlier.Revenue rose more than 6% to $200.8 million, up from $188.7 million. Same-store sales also rose 6%, helped by a 5.7% increase in the number of customers who shopped at the company's more than 850 stores.

New York-based luxury department store retailer Barneys New York announced that it has named Mark Lee as its new CEO, effective Sept. 1, according to Reuters.com. Barneys has not had a CEO since Howard Socol left in June 2008, and was being managed by a committee of seven executives in the interim. Lee was formerly the CEO of Italian fashion house Gucci, from 2004 to 2008. Prior to joining Gucci in 1996, Lee held positions at Saks Fifth Avenue, Giorgio Armani and Yves Saint Laurent. SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS | REPRINTS DDI's