Retailers OfficeMax and Office Depot are close to becoming one entity, a source tells Reuters, in order to pose a more serious threat to competitors like Staples and Amazon. It isn’t a done deal just yet but the expected stock-for-stock merging could happen—or fall apart—this week.

The rumored merger has already set both retailers' stocks aflame, with Office Depot jumping 28 percent to $5.89 per share and OfficeMax surging 19 percent to $12.77 per share.  According to Bloomberg, the companies have been discussing a possible stock swap that would "create a single office supply retailer to compete with Staples."

While the two companies wouldn’t comment, “one of OfficeMax's top shareholders, Neuberger Berman, said it would support a merger with Office Depot depending on terms of the deal,” the Chicago Tribune reports.Continue reading...

UK retailers are not having an easy time of it, as the systematic shuttering of 164 Blockbuster stores is added to the list of foundering UK businesess.

The high-profile failing of music retailer HMV—which operates some 240 stores in Britain, Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong—has already shut down all 16 of its Irish posts. The chain's owner, Hilco Consumer Capital, which specializes in buying bankrupt brands and owns Borders and Polaroid, is expected to decide the fate of HMV's other stores sometime this month. HMV's woes came on the heels of the bankruptcy of Jessops, a UK camera retailer, last week.

For Blockbuster, whose U.S. retail arm has been belly-up since 2010, the closure of UK stores comes as no surprise.Continue reading...

UK-based Tesco stores are celebrating Chinese New Year 2013 with bright red decorations, special food and even a traditional lion dance. Check it out in the video above, which features Georg Fischer, CEO of Tesco Malaysia and Hai Qing Lu, Corporate Affairs Director of Tesco China.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment by lululemon.

In the $14 billion women’s athletic apparel market, heir apparent Lululemon is facing a direct challenge by Ellie, the latest startup incubated by L.A.-based Science.

Pledging the same quality of workout gear at half the price, Ellie's approach eschews sophisticated tech in favor of consumer demand gauged by social media: items are first introduced on Facebook to gauge reaction and test trend strength.

“With an on-site pattern-maker, they can showcase designs they are testing across social media to get users/fans to decide if they like them, and if it’s popular, the outfit is manufactured within four days and available for mass market retail,” a rep told VentureBeat. “That’s lightning speed for clothing manufacturing.”Continue reading...

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment by lululemon.

In the $14 billion women’s athletic apparel market, heir apparent Lululemon is facing a direct challenge by Ellie, the latest startup incubated by L.A.-based Science.

Pledging the same quality of workout gear at half the price, Ellie's approach eschews sophisticated tech in favor of consumer demand gauged by social media: items are first introduced on Facebook to gauge reaction and test trend strength.

“With an on-site pattern-maker, they can showcase designs they are testing across social media to get users/fans to decide if they like them, and if it’s popular, the outfit is manufactured within four days and available for mass market retail,” a rep told VentureBeat. “That’s lightning speed for clothing manufacturing.”Continue reading...

In the $14 billion women’s athletic apparel market, heir apparent Lululemon is facing a direct challenge by Ellie, the latest startup incubated by L.A.-based Science.

Pledging the same quality of workout gear at half the price, Ellie's approach eschews sophisticated tech in favor of consumer demand gauged by social media: items are first introduced on Facebook to gauge reaction and test trend strength.

“With an onsite pattern-maker, they can showcase designs they are testing across social media to get users/fans to decide if they like them, and if it’s popular, the outfit is manufactured within four days and available for mass market retail,” a rep told VentureBeat. “That’s lightning speed for clothing manufacturing.”Continue reading...

Best Buy Canada will lay off 900 employees and close 15 of its stores including eight Future Shop locations, while Sears Canada will lay off 700 of its workers as both retailers brace for the arrival of Target next month and the expansion of Walmart there. Nordstrom is also launching in Canada with four stores in major cities.

“The retail landscape continues to change, and our success is dependent upon our ability to evolve along with it,” said Mike Pratt, president of Best Buy Canada. “By taking a proactive approach in transforming our operations now, I have no doubt we will be in the best position to continue innovating our store experience for consumers and grow into the next decade.”

Sears spokesman Vince Power in a statement that the imminent layoffs across Canada are “part of our initiative to right-size the organization, which is working in concert with other initiatives to make Sears successful." 

Best Buy Canada, like its American parent, faces stiff competition from online electronics retailers such as Amazon and Apple and is replicating a U.S. strategy of switching to smaller stores, which are less expensive to operate. Meanwhile, Sears Canada — which has suffered for years from falling sales and profits — is shrinking its overhead from its 360 department stores and 300 distribution centers.

While Canada's retail sector has been wobbling ever since Walmart arrived in the mid-90s, this latest round of market rumbling is spurred by Target’s immiment expansion plans, as the cheap chic retailer gets ready to open the first of its 124 stores in Canada next month.Continue reading...

JCPenney has reversed its "Fair and Square Pricing" concept of a year ago, which slashed prices across the board and did away with sales. In its place, the retailer is bringing back — you guessed it — sales.

JCPenney will again offer "targeted discounts at certain times throughout the year," as it did in the past, according to Reuters. The U. S. retailer will also post signs on the majority of its merchandise, showing shoppers the amount of money they're saving on items purchased at Penney.

To some extent, the reversal rebuffs the efforts of chief executive Ron Johnson, formerly of Apple and Target, who joined JCPenney in late 2011.

Last year at about this time, Johnson outlined ambitious plans to turn the 110-year old company into a modern day low-priced retailer better able to compete with the likes of Target and Walmart. The store updated its logo for the third time in three years, announced partnerships with designers and fashion brands, tapped Ellen DeGeneres to be its brand ambassador, and (most portentously) did away with merchandise sales.Continue reading...