Retail Stores

If at first you don't succeed … Coming off an unsuccessful attempt to sell an Android smartphone back in 2010, Google is planning to launch an online store similar to Amazon.com and Apple to sell co-branded tablet devices, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google's move comes as Apple has gotten a boost from its new iPad and Amazon has made a splash with its Kindle Fire tablet. Apple dominates market share of the category with Android devices a distant second. 

Wal-Mart will lower grocery prices by $1 billion this year, hoping consumers will come in for the reduced costs and then fan out to other parts of the store. The retailer, the largest grocery retailer by sales in the U.S., is taking the step to continue or increase the progress its U.S. stores began to see in the second half of last year, when U.S. comparable-store sales turned positive.

In celebration of their 100th anniversaries this year, outdoor retailer L.L.Bean and Fenway Park are teaming up to celebrate a century of America's favorite outdoor pastime. With events and initiatives throughout 2012, fans will have the opportunity to join in as both L.L.Bean and Fenway Park celebrate this milestone, engaging in activities that pay tribute to "America's Most Beloved Ballpark" and L.L.Bean's 100-year passion and commitment to the outdoors.

Matthews, N.C.-based Family Dollar Stores plans to open 450 to 500 stores in fiscal 2012. During the first half of fiscal 2012, Family Dollar opened 184 stores, closed 36 stores and renovated, relocated or expanded 342 stores. The store openings will be partially offset by 80 to 100 store closings. 

The National Football League is preparing to throw open the doors to its huge pop-up store on Sixth Avenue and 41st Street in New York City. The store, the league's first-ever pop-up venue in New York, is timed with the NFL Draft, to be held April 26 just blocks away at Radio City Music Hall. 

Best Buy has announced as part of its dismal quarterly earnings report that it's closing 50 of its 1,100 U.S. stores this year, while testing smaller tech support-centric "connected stores" in San Antonio and Minneapolis. As part of its restructuring, it will also lay off 400 corporate and support workers in order to slash $800 million in costs and turn around its struggling business model.

It may be March, but it's the holiday season for home improvement retailers. Unlike most retailers that bank on the winter holiday season for a large percentage of their annual sales, Santa comes in the springtime for retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe's. That's when homeowners finally begin those home improvement projects they've been putting off all winter.

The head of fashion retail chain Glue has warned brands engaging in constant discounting they may be barred from appearing in any of the company's stores, in a twist on the usual retail price maintenance debate. 

After rumors emerged this week that H&M is planning its first luxury brand, the Swedish retailer confirmed today that a new store chain will be launched in 2013. "We are making these long-term investments in order to build an even stronger H&M, so that we can give our customers an even broader offering going forward. We have many different projects in progress and next year we will be launching a completely new store chain," said H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson.

Adaptations, also known as blatant knockoffs, have always been a part of fashion, but they used to occur at a more civilized pace. Coco Chanel was famously relaxed about the issue; despite banding with Madeleine Vionnet to sue one particularly shameless copyist in the 1930s, when Paris was the undisputed center of the industry, she later authorized American dressmakers like David Kidd of Jablow to clone her signature nubby tweed suits for the common folk.