Retail Stores

A new comScore study of online shopping in Europe shows that in January 2011, 270.6 million unique visitors browsed sites in the retail category, representing a market penetration of 74.5 percent of internet users, up 8.5 percent vs. last year.

VF Corp. plans to open 400 U.S. stores across its various brands during the next years. The company, whose stable of banners include Vans and The North Face, discussed its plans at an investor conference held recently in New York City. In addition to the U.S. expansion, VF is looking to open some 225 stores in Europe and 80 in Asia. The expansion is expected to bring the company’s global store count to 1,500 units.

Tiffany & Co. said fourth-quarter earnings rose 29 percent as net sales jumped 12 percent to $1.1 billion. The company earned $181.2 million in the quarter compared with $140.4 million in the year-ago period. The latest quarter includes from the pending relocation of Tiffany's New York headquarters staff.

Express announced its fourth quarter and full year 2010 financial results for the 13-week period ended January 29, 2011. Net sales increased 14 percent to $621.5 million from $546.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Struggling to fend off increasing competition, Sears is borrowing a page from the marketing playbook of products like soft drinks and soup by naming its rivals in aggressive advertising.

With pressure increasing on folks not to smoke, Zippo Manufacturing is hoping to capitalize on its brand by offering a wider variety of products — from watches to leisure clothing to cologne — through kiosks and Zippo-brand specialty stores designed to showcase the durable image reinforced by each distinctive lid "click" of its brass-encased, lifetime-guaranteed lighters.

It appears that talks between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Apple have broken down, resulting in Apple deciding not to open a new 16,000 square-foot retail store in one of New York’s most popular landmarks. Apple was in talks to secure retail space in New York’s Grand Central Terminal, opening a new Apple Store that would have been its biggest in terms of retail space.

Men's apparel retailer Casual Male reported lower-than-expected quarterly results, hurt by lower gross margins due to increased markdowns and weak traffic at their stores.

Nike shares fell almost 8 percent in premarket trading after the company warned it won’t hike prices quickly enough to offset rising costs. Gross margin, which fell 1.1 percentage points to 45.8 percent in the fiscal third quarter, is expected to narrow by 3 percentage points in the fourth quarter and continue to decline in the next fiscal year, Nike executives said on a conference call.

Canadian yoga-wear maker lululemon athletica said its fourth-quarter net income jumped 92 percent on strong demand for its high-end technical athletic clothing. Net income rose to $54.8 million, or 76 cents per share, from $28.5 million, or 40 cents per share, in the prior year period.