Retail Stores

Wal-Mart has postponed its previously announced store openings in Washington, D.C., according to The Washington Post. Initially six stores were slated to open by the end of 2012. Now the company doesn't plan to open its first store in the city until the end of 2013. The retailer faced resistance from activists and opponents, eventually leading to the extended timeline. Only one of the six planned stores will open by the end of 2013. 

An organized retail theft ring that targeted 70 Home Depot stores in six states has been taken down by a multiagency task force after the arrest of three men in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Two other suspects are still being sought. According to New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, the alleged shoplifters committed thefts at multiple stores per day, stealing hundreds of dollars in merchandise by “under-ringing” it through self-checkout areas. They allegedly engaged in over 500 illegal transactions resulting in estimated losses that exceeded $100,000. 

Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo will open its first store on the West Coast this fall in a 29,000-square-foot space in San Francisco, The Wall Street Journal reported. Uniqlo is also looking for locations in Los Angeles and other California cities, according to the report. To date, the company has opened three U.S. stores, all in New York City.

On the heels of recent successes with the distribution of both proprietary and acquired content through its Genius Distribution Network (GDN), Genius Brands International today announced it's pursuing distribution opportunities from third-party content owners to fill its growing pipeline to retailers in multiple traditional and digital distribution channels. Genius Brands’ GDN is a vast distribution network established on the distribution of the company's flagship Baby Genius brand of products as well as its growing portfolio of other branded content. GDN consists of major retailers, traditional national distributors and global digital distributors.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Pier 1 Imports will launch a three-year growth plan in fiscal 2013. The new plan will include store refurbishments, remodels, new openings and strategic relocations. In fiscal 2012, the company refurbished 125 stores and fully remodeled three stores. During fiscal 2013, the company plans to fully remodel approximately six to eight locations, refurbish approximately 100 existing stores and integrate new merchandise fixture elements into many of its stores.

During a recent earnings call, Union, N.J.-based Bed Bath & Beyond announced plans to open approximately 40 new stores across all of the company's concepts during fiscal 2012. The company also said that it plans to continue to relocate, remodel and expand a number of stores. "We believe that throughout the United States and Canada, there's an opportunity to operate an excess of 1,300 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, as well as continue to grow our Christmas Tree Shops and buybuy BABY concepts from coast to coast," said Warren Eisenberg, co-chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond.

Amazon.com is the United States’ most relevant retailer, followed by Target, according to Brodeur Partners’ Retail Relevance Top 10 ranking. The study asked shoppers to look at 21 of the nation's top retailers and select the "most" and "least" personally relevant retailer in four specific areas: practicality, values, sensory appeal and social appeal. "These are four ingredients of relevance that you look for in everything, from a Google search to a product, candidate, cause or place to shop," said Andy Coville, CEO of Brodeur Partners, Boston. 

Conn’s Inc. reported Tuesday that it earned $7.7 million in the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with a loss of $3.6 million in the year-ago period. Revenue increased 3.7 percent to $226.7 million, beating Wall Street’s expected $221.4 million. Same-store sales surged 12.1 percent. The company said it's on track with its store opening plans, which calls for five stores to seven stores in new markets this year.

Samsung Electronics is opening several retail stores in Canada, hoping to compete with rivals Sony and Apple, according to the Financial Post. The stores are part of the company's larger retail strategy that includes special Samsung-branded "Experience Zones" and "store-within-a-store" kiosks inside certain electronics and partner stores featuring the company's televisions, mobile phones, tablets and appliances. Although Samsung officials are still discussing the exact locations of the first stores and which partner companies will receive the in-store Samsung zones, the first stand-alone outlets will open later this year. 

Best Buy last week gave details of its "Connected Store," a slightly smaller format which CEO Brian Dunn described as "remodeled big-box stores that focus on connections, services and an enhanced multichannel experience." As part of a test, two full markets in the Twin Cities and San Antonio will be reset with the new format later this year.