Retail Briefs

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/3/2008 12:00:00 AM

Macy’s to Resume Monthly Reports

Macy’s Inc., which stopped reporting monthly sales data in February, will resume issuing monthly data, with October sales due on Nov. 6 — but the company did not say how long it plans to continue. “We want to provide investors as much information and transparency as possible,” said Terry Lundgren, chairman, president and ceo. “While we continue to believe that sales on a monthly basis are an incomplete and sometimes misleading measure of a retailer’s performance, we will again provide this information so investors have a sense of the direction of our business on a more frequent basis through this uncertain time.”

Earlier in the month, Macy’s scaled back its guidance for fiscal year earnings per share. Previously forecast at $1.70 to $1.85, Macy’s now anticipates EPS of $1.30 to $1.50.

Big Lots Bows E-commerce Site

Trumpeting the “Online Deal of the Day,” closeout retailer Big Lots officially launched its new e-commerce website on Oct. 21. The first-ever Deal happened to be a double offer: either a Sony Bravia HD TV for $1,269.99, offered new at 37% off the list price of $1,999.99; or a Samsung HD TV marked down 31% to $1,699.99.

On the site, clicking a product picture for description takes one to a sign-up page for the BuzzClub. The sign-up is fairly brisk, and one is encouraged to use a zip code as a password. Joining the Big Lots BuzzClub initiates eligibility for special discounts — and also encourages users to sign up for email alerts about the Online Deal of the Day and other specials.

JCPenney Readies LEED Store

JCPenney has broken ground on a Fairview, Texas store that it has registered for and expects to obtain the eco-friendly LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. LEED is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council for design and construction using environmentally sound planning, recycled materials, and infrastructure that conserves water and energy use.

The new site is also one of two JCP locations to be certified under the “Designed to Earn the Energy Star” program, which monitors the energy use of completed buildings.

$900 Million in Mervyns GOB Sales

Inventory valued “at approximately $900 million” will be offered in the going-out-of-business sales at the remaining 149 Mervyns stores, liquidator Great American Group said.

The company is in a joint venture with SB Capital Group, Tiger Capital Group and Hudson Capital Partners to liquidate the merchandise and fixtures at the bankrupt mid-tier retailer. GOB sales began “immediately” on Oct. 30 and are expected to run eight weeks in all. Mervyns declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July, when its store count was 176. Mervyns was No. 33 on the HTT Top 50 Retailing Giants, with 2007 home textiles sales of $145 million.