Retail Stores

Ecko is running a promotion asking its fans to get tattoos of the Ecko rhinoceros logo or the Marc Ecko Cut & Sew shears for 20 percent off at all Ecko stores for life. At least 30 die-hard Ecko lovers had gotten the tats.

Office Depot admits it hasn't been taking care of business when it comes to its retail store customers. The big-box retail concept offering thousands of office supply products was no longer working. "Our model was broken," said Kevin Peters, head of the retail division for Boca Raton, Fla.-based Office Depot.

J.Crew said it plans a $20 million expansion of its Lynchburg, Va., distribution center to facilitate the retailer’s goal of selling more clothes overseas. J.Crew is slated to open its first store outside the tates and start shipping orders to Europe by the end of 2011.

It looks like David Beckham will follow his wife Victoria into fashion designing. But he won't be designing women’s frocks but baby garments. Beckham will team up with his pal Snoop Dogg to design a new fashion line for kids.

Bed Bath & Beyond announced plans to open approximately 45 new stores across all of the company's concepts during 2011. "We believe that throughout the U.S. and Canada, there's an opportunity to create in excess of 1,300 Bed Bath & Beyond stores, as well as grow our Christmas Tree Shops and buybuy BABY concepts from coast to coast," said Warren Eisenberg, co-chairman of Bed Bath & Beyond.

Costco is selling a 6.77 carat diamond solitaire ring for $1 million. The million dollar diamond ring is a bargain, having been valued at £1.6 million by the International Gemological Institute. Costco sells everything from t-bone steak to toilet paper and so adding a diamond ring to its product portfolio may seem a little strange from the onset.

Sears announced the expansion of beauty departments to more than 100 store locations and Sears.com. The new cosmetics departments will include beauty products from such well-known brands as L'Oreal, Maybelline, Revlon and CoverGirl, in a range of hues for every woman.

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 9 percent in April over the same month last year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

It may be an exaggeration that the Gap has had no outstanding marketing since the 1990s. The company has been struggling for years to figure out how to attract younger consumers as well as win back those who have stopped shopping there.

Consumers spent more on retail goods in the first quarter than they did during the same time last year. That's despite higher gas prices, bad weather and a late Easter holiday.