Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

The Home Depot® announces new consumer energy and GHG reduction goals for 2020

ATLANTA, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — In its effort to help reduce energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the more than 2,000 communities where it operates, The Home Depot^® has announced new consumer energy and GHG reduction goals for 2020.

Anchored by the use of ENERGY STAR certified products, the consumer-driven goals include a commitment to source and provide innovative products that, through proper use, will help to:

Reduce North American consumers’ electricity costs by more than $2.8 billion by 2020
Reduce North American consumers’ greenhouse gas emissions by 20 million metric tons by 2020

The Home Depot has earned the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Retail Partner of the Year award for the tenth consecutive year, as well as EPA’s Sustained Excellence distinction, for its continued leadership in offering the latest innovations in energy efficient products.

In 1996, The Home Depot began efforts to influence its suppliers to develop and adopt high efficiency standards for its appliance and lighting products. As a result, Home Depot customers have realized hundreds of millions of dollars in utility cost savings over the past decade.

“We recognize the positive impact ENERGY STAR certified products have in consumer homes each day and will continue to work with our supplier partners to bring the best environmental innovations to our stores each year,” said Ron Jarvis, vice president of environmental for The Home Depot.

In addition to the new consumer energy goals, the company’s existing 2020 energy goals include reducing store energy use by an additional 20 percent below 2010 consumption levels and the procurement of 135 MW (megawatts) of electricity from a combination of onsite fuel cells and solar installs, as well as offsite solar and wind developments.

The company promotes ongoing consumer and associate-based education programs that have helped to increase awareness of ENERGY STAR certified products and their environmental and financial benefits. Consumer tips for saving energy are available at the company’s digital newsroom at: http://corporate.homedepot.com/newsroom/lower-energy-bill-spring.

As a part of the company’s sustainability strategy, merchants and suppliers place a priority on products that feature reduced environmental impacts. The company reviews the collective impact of those products annually for sustainable forestry practices, energy and emissions reduction, material reduction, water savings, and chemical use reduction.

The Home Depot offers more than 20,000 ENERGY STAR products in stores and online.

To learn more about ENERGY STAR’s awards program, visit http://www.energystar.gov/awardwinners.

The Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,281 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2016, The Home Depot had sales of $94.6 billion and earnings of $8.0 billion. The Company employs more than 400,000 associates. The Home Depot’s stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HD) and is included in the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index.

SOURCE: The Home Depot

Email: investor_relations@homedepot.com
IR Coordinator: 770-384-2871

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ to host Dallas Opportunity Fair on May 19 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center

With youth unemployment in Dallas one of the highest in the nation, the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ will host an unprecedented day-long jobs and resource fair in Dallas, kicking off a long-term effort to hire and engage young people facing barriers to education and employment

More than 1,700 guaranteed job interviews and local opportunities available with top companies including Starbucks, FedEx, JCPenney, Pizza Hut, Macy’s, Chipotle, Five Guys, Walmart and more; Hundreds of on-the-spot job offers expected

Coalition aims to hire 1 million Opportunity Youth across the U.S. by 2020

DALLAS, TX, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — With nearly 13 percent of youth not in school or the workforce – an estimated 109,000 young men and women – the Dallas metro area now has one of the highest rates of youth disengagement in the nation[1]. In response, a national coalition of over 50 leading U.S. companies known as the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ will come together on Friday, May 19 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center to host the Dallas Opportunity Fair – an unprecedented, day-long hiring event aimed at Opportunity Youth – 16-24 year olds who are not in school and unemployed. The event will feature recruiters and resources from top U.S. companies including Starbucks, FedEx, JCPenney, Pizza Hut, Chipotle, Delaware North, Republic Services, Dominos, Sprinkles, Five Guys, Target, Hilton Worldwide, Teavana, HMSHost, T-Mobile, Ulta Beauty, Macy’s, Villa, Papa John’s, Walgreens and Walmart.

Together, they are offering more than 1,700 guaranteed job interviews throughout the day for local positions, as well as the opportunity to connect with more than 30 job-readiness and social services, including resume writing, interview skills and college and financial aid applications – making this the largest and most comprehensive opportunity youth hiring fair ever hosted in Texas. Based on past events in Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Seattle, the coalition expects to extend hundreds of immediate, on-the-spot job offers at the May 19 event.

“FedEx is dedicated to helping young people gain the skills and career connections necessary to find available jobs on the path to starting their careers,” said Kim Dixon, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, FedEx Office. “We’re proud to be a founding member of the 100K opportunities coalition of leading companies and look forward to connecting with young talent in the Dallas area.”

“JCPenney is proud to be one of the founding members of the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative coalition and we are in awe of the tremendous progress the cause has achieved in just under two years. We are excited for the next Opportunity & Job Fair to be hosted in our hometown of Dallas, home to a dynamic and thriving retail community,” said Marvin Ellison, chairman and CEO of JCPenney. “A job in retail can be the start of an exciting career path with a variety of opportunities for anyone who is passionate about delivering great products and exceptional customer service. We look forward to continuing our support of the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative by engaging young job seekers to join the JCPenney stores team.”

Launched in 2015, the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ reached its original goal of hiring and engaging 100,000 opportunity youth two years ahead of schedule. But with an estimated 4.9 million young Americans still left out of the U.S. economy[2], the coalition has since expanded its commitment to a new goal of 1 million hires by 2020. Each of the companies and organizations involved share a commitment to helping youth connect with employers and develop basic job skills. The goal is to get these young men and women into the workforce and on to a long-term pathway to success.

“Connecting America’s underserved youth to a pathway to employment has the potential to create an enormous ripple effect on our businesses, communities, and the economy. And, we are excited to launch our next hiring fair in Dallas,” said Kevin Johnson, president and ceo of Starbucks Coffee Company. “Since working with the employer community to launch the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, Starbucks has hired more than 40,000 Opportunity Youth. This has prompted us to expand our own goal to 100,000 hires by 2020. These young men and women are thriving in the Starbucks environment, demonstrating that opportunity youth can be an invaluable pipeline of talent for a company like ours, as we look to fill 68,000 new jobs in the U.S. in the next five years.”

“Since joining the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, Pizza Hut has successfully filled thousands of jobs including several manager-level positions,” said Artie Starrs, President, Pizza Hut, U.S. “We are like-minded in the coalition’s mission of empowering youth to reach their full potential. We look forward to engaging with the smart, talented and ambitious youth in the city we work and live.”

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and around the country, youth unemployment still tops 12 percent[3], disproportionately impacting young people from underserved low-income communities. The coalition will work alongside Dallas’ civic and community leaders including the City of Dallas, Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas, United Way of Metro Dallas, City Square and other key partners to build on existing opportunity youth hiring efforts and ensure the initiative is sustained in the long run.

“Our young people are the future of Dallas, and every one of them deserves an opportunity to achieve their full potential,” said Mayor Mike Rawlings. “I’m grateful for the leaders of the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative and several Dallas-based companies and service providers that have stepped up. The May 19 Opportunity Fair will help launch a true employer-led, long-term effort to provide career and education pathways to thousands of opportunity youth in Dallas. I urge our local businesses to take part in this opportunity to strengthen our city, our local economy and the workforce of tomorrow by investing in our youth in the form of meaningful jobs and training opportunities.”

“We believe it’s our collective responsibility to invest in getting these disconnected youth into the types of jobs that are required for them to lead rewarding, productive lives,” said Ashley Brundage, Senior Vice President, Community Impact, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. “Their future is our priority. We applaud the leaders of 100,000 Opportunities for bringing global leaders together to make a deep, lasting impact in our future. This partnership furthers our purpose of putting knowledge and opportunity at the at the footstep of so many eager minds. We are excited to collaborate on May 19 to empower, engage, and equip our next generation.”

“We welcome the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative to Dallas. The event gives corporations with a Dallas presence access to a goldmine of entry-level trainable talent,” said Laurie Bouillion Larrea, president at Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas. “The benefits of youth employment are staggering. Early employment translates to higher earning in adulthood and better financial inclusion. Dallas area companies need this talent and our Dallas youth need paid apprenticeship opportunities. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Youth Can Register for Guaranteed Job Interviews at the Dallas Opportunity Fair
Interested candidates are invited to register for free and schedule an interview ahead of time for the May 19 hiring event at www.100kOpportunities.org/Dallas. Youth will also have access to more than 30 vital employment, educational and social services, including one-on-one resume and interview coaching; opportunities for civic engagement like voter registration and national service; the chance to build an online candidate profile; and more. The event will also feature informative and inspirational performances and activities throughout the day.

Building the Nation’s Largest Employer-Led Initiative for Opportunity Youth
The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ now includes more than 50 companies, including: Accenture, Alaska Airlines, Chipotle, Cintas, CVS Health, Delaware North, Domino’s, Ernst & Young, FedEx, Five Guys, Food Services of America, Gene Juarez, Greyston Bakery, Hilton WorldWide, HMS Host, Hyatt, JCPenney, JPMorgan Chase, Leisure Care, Lyft, Macy’s, Mars, Microsoft, MOD Pizza, Nordstrom, Panda Express, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, Porch, Potbelly, Prudential, Red Robin, Republic Services, Savers, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Starbucks, Sweetgreen, Taco Bell, Target, Teavana, T-Mobile, Toms, Ulta Beauty, Villa, Walgreens, Walmart, and Yum!.

The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ is led by an Executive Committee which provides generous support including FedEx, HMS Host, The Rockefeller Foundation, Schultz Family Foundation, Starbucks, Yum!, and Walmart Foundation. Premier sponsorship for the event in Dallas is being provided by FedEx Office, JCPenney and the JC Penney Foundation, and Starbucks and the Starbucks Foundation.

As it has in Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Seattle, the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative^TM will partner with national and local organizations to provide continued investment in Dallas to create pathways to employment for Opportunity Youth in the region, including ongoing hiring fairs and other efforts to train and employ youth.

About the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™
The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative™ has the goal of creating the nation’s largest employer-led private sector coalition committed to creating pathways to employment for young people. Companies engaged in the coalition will help to launch careers for young people that are just entering the workforce, including internships, apprenticeships and on the job training, in addition to developing potential in youth that have some work experience but are looking to gain new skills that lead to a successful career. For more information, please visit www.100kOpportunities.org.

For a complete list of participating companies, community service organizations, funders and participants, please visit www.100kOpportunities.org.

To learn more about the coalition’s impact at past hiring events, and what to expect at the Dallas Opportunity Fair on May 19, visit our YouTube video page at http://bit.ly/2oIozpo.

Media interested in attending the event in Dallas must pre-register for credentials by contacting media@100kOpportunities.org.

###

[1] Measure of America, Promising Gains, Persistent Gaps (March 8, 2017)

[2] Measure of America, Promising Gains, Persistent Gaps (March 8, 2017)

[3] Measure of America, Promising Gains, Persistent Gaps (March 8, 2017)

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

AWS allows Amazon Redshift customers run SQL queries against exabytes of data in Amazon S3 with Amazon Redshift Spectrum

New capability allows Amazon Redshift customers to run analytic queries quickly and inexpensively against exabytes of data in Amazon S3

SEATTLE, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (Apr. 19, 2017), Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced Amazon Redshift Spectrum, a new feature that allows Amazon Redshift customers to run SQL queries against exabytes of their data in Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). With Redshift Spectrum, customers can extend the analytic power of Amazon Redshift beyond data stored on local disks in their data warehouse to query vast amounts of unstructured data in their Amazon S3 “data lake” – without having to load or transform any data. Redshift Spectrum applies sophisticated query optimization, scaling processing across thousands of nodes so results are fast – even with large data sets and complex queries. To get started with Redshift Spectrum, visit https://aws.amazon.com/redshift/spectrum.

Amazon Redshift is one of AWS’s fastest-growing services because it allows customers to perform complex queries on petabytes of structured data stored on high-performance local disks and get superfast performance – all for a tenth of the cost of traditional data warehouses. However, as the cost of data storage has continued to drop, customers are increasingly storing vast amounts of data in Amazon S3 “data lakes,” including unstructured data that may never make it into a data warehouse. Now, with Redshift Spectrum, analyzing all of this data is as easy as running a standard Amazon Redshift SQL query. Redshift Spectrum directly queries data in Amazon S3, with no loading or transformation required, using the open data formats customers already use, including CSV, TSV, Parquet, Sequence, and RCFile. Since Redshift Spectrum supports the same SQL syntax of Amazon Redshift, customers can run sophisticated queries using the same Business Intelligence (BI) tools they do today. They can also run queries that span both the frequently accessed data stored locally in Amazon Redshift and their full data sets stored cost-effectively in Amazon S3. Redshift Spectrum automatically scales query compute capacity based on the data being retrieved, so queries against Amazon S3 data run fast, whether processing just a few terabytes, petabytes, or even exabytes.

“Customers such as Amgen, Boingo Wireless, Electronic Arts, Hearst, Lyft, Nasdaq, Scholastic, TripAdvisor, and Yahoo! are migrating to Amazon Redshift in droves because it leverages the scale of AWS to analyze petabytes of data with ten times the performance at one-tenth the cost of old guard data warehouses. Many of these customers have asked us to extend the speed and flexibility of Amazon Redshift beyond the data warehouse to analyze all of the data they have in Amazon S3,” said Raju Gulabani, Vice President, Databases, Analytics, and AI, AWS. “Redshift Spectrum does just this, offering the best of both worlds by making it incredibly easy to query exabytes of data in Amazon S3 directly from Amazon Redshift. We’re excited to now make exabyte-scale analytics fast, simple and accessible to companies of all sizes.”

Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is the largest mobile service provider in Japan, serving more than 68 million customers. “Our data analysis platform collects tens of terabytes of log data each day from a variety of internal and external sources to help us improve our logistics and marketing operations. Migrating to Amazon Redshift two years ago allowed us to scale to over ten petabytes of uncompressed data with a ten times performance improvement over our prior on-premises system,” said Mick Etoh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Innovation Management Department, NTT DOCOMO. “Redshift Spectrum will let us expand the universe of the data we analyze to 100s of petabytes over time. This is truly a game changer, and we can think of no other system in the world that can get us there.”

Time Inc. is a leading content company that engages over 150 million consumers every month through its portfolio of premium brands across platforms. “As a media company, we receive a large quantity of data from a number of ad serving providers. This data comes in a variety of formats and needs to be integrated with our own internal systems in order for our teams to be able to analyze it,” said Vladimir Barkov, Director of Data Architecture and Engineering at Time Inc. “Redshift Spectrum enables us to directly operate on our data in its native format in Amazon S3 with no preprocessing or transformation. Our data pipeline is much simpler now, and our execution time has been lowered significantly.”

Edmunds offers detailed, constantly updated information about vehicles to 20 million monthly visitors. “Amazon Redshift’s scalability allows us to support our ever-growing data volumes, unlike our previous, on-premises data warehouse solution,” said Ajit Zadgaonkar, Edmunds’s Executive Director of Operations and Infrastructure. “With Redshift Spectrum, we no longer need to think about what data to retain for analysis and what to throw away. We can now run real SQL queries directly on many years of data stored cost-effectively in Amazon S3. Redshift Spectrum’s fast performance across massive data sets is unprecedented.”

Redfin is the next-generation real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor across more than 80 metros in the US. “With millions of users and hundreds of millions of property listings, our website and internal systems generate a vast amount of data. Our data analytics platform has been built from the ground up on AWS, using Amazon S3 for storage, Amazon Kinesis for streaming, Amazon EMR for data processing and real-time applications, and Amazon Redshift for data warehousing,” said Yong Huang, Director of Big Data and Analytics at Redfin. “We love Redshift Spectrum because it allows us to directly and flexibly query our most up-to-date data coming from many different complex pipelines in many different file formats. Our data science team using Amazon EMR can now collaborate with our marketing and product teams using Redshift Spectrum to analyze the same Amazon S3 data sets.”

Yelp connects people with great local businesses and provides them with in-depth reviews across 32 countries. “Yelp generates billions of analytics events every day across our 24 million average monthly mobile app unique users, 65 million average monthly mobile web unique visitors, and 73 million average monthly desktop unique visitors as of December 31, 2016. Our shift to mobile has stressed our analytics infrastructure, as our mobile app users have ten times more engagement than our website users,” said Justin Cunningham, Technical Lead in the Software Engineering team at Yelp. “Redshift Spectrum unlocks analytic access to our Amazon S3 data, reducing the time-to-insight across large data sets to seconds. It will enable many more use cases than we serve today – multiple teams can now query the same Amazon S3 data sets using both Amazon Redshift and Amazon EMR.”

Recruit Technologies operates some of the most popular media brands and advertising properties in Japan. “Our web and mobile properties that are provided by Recruit’s subsidiaries generate billions of events per day which we analyze to improve our business, including marketing, business planning, and product enhancements. We migrated to Amazon Redshift in 2015 to keep up with the explosion of data in our business,” said Satoshi Honmura, Group Manager of Data Management at Recruit Technologies. “Redshift Spectrum will help us scale yet further while also lowering our costs. Now, our data scientists can run sophisticated queries against many years of historical data in Amazon S3, paying just for the queries they run, while our hundreds of business users can continue to use Redshift local storage to deliver blazingly fast performance against more recent data.”

Customers can start using Redshift Spectrum using the AWS Management Console. Amazon Redshift Spectrum is available in the US East (N.Virginia), US East (Ohio), and US West (Oregon) Regions and will expand to additional Regions in the coming months.

About Amazon Web Services
For 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 90 fully featured services for compute, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, developer, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, hybrid, and enterprise applications, from 42 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world – including the fastest growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies – to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Amazon Lex now available to all customers

Amazon Lex, the technology that powers Amazon Alexa, enables any developer to build rich, conversational user experiences for web, mobile, and connected device apps
American Heart Association, Capital One, Freshdesk, Hubspot, Liberty Mutual, NASA, Ohio Health, and Vonage among customers using Amazon Lex

SEATTLE, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced that Amazon Lex, an artificial intelligence (AI) service for building applications that can have conversations using voice and text, is now available to all customers. Amazon Lex brings the sophisticated and proven deep learning algorithms that power Amazon Alexa to all developers as a fully managed service. To get started with Amazon Lex, visit: https://aws.amazon.com/lex/.

Until now, very few developers have been able to build, deploy, and broadly scale apps with automatic speech recognition (ASR) and natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities because doing so required training sophisticated deep learning algorithms on massive amounts of data and infrastructure. Amazon Lex eliminates all of this heavy lifting, making it easy for developers to build apps that can have conversations using voice or text by offering the same ASR and NLU technologies that power Amazon Alexa, as a fully managed service. With Amazon Lex, developers can build and test conversational apps that perform tasks such as checking the weather or latest news, booking travel, ordering food, getting the latest sales or marketing data from business software, or controlling a connecting device. To build a conversational app, developers provide Amazon Lex sample phrases that describe a user’s intent (e.g., “book a flight”) along with the corresponding information Amazon Lex needs to ask to fulfill the intent (e.g., travel date and destination), and any required questions Amazon Lex needs to ask to elicit additional information (e.g., “when do you want to travel?” and “where do you want to go?”). Amazon Lex takes care of the rest by building a machine learning model that parses the speech or text input from the user, understands the intent behind the conversation, and manages the conversation (e.g., if the travel date is already known, the app will skip that question and ask for the destination). Developers can then publish the conversational app to mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, web applications, and chat services such as Facebook Messenger, Slack or Twilio. Amazon Lex handles the authentication required by different platforms using the customer provided keys and scales automatically as traffic increases, so developers don’t have to worry about provisioning and managing infrastructure.

“Thousands of machine learning and deep learning experts across Amazon have been developing AI technologies for years, and Amazon Alexa includes some of the most sophisticated and powerful deep learning technologies in existence,” said Raju Gulabani, Vice President, Databases, Analytics, and AI, AWS. “We thought customers might be excited to use the same technology that powers Alexa to build conversational apps, but we’ve been blown away by the customer response to our preview – as organizations in virtually every industry like Capital One, Freshdesk, Hubspot, Liberty Mutual, Ohio Health, and Vonage have mobilized quickly to build on top of Amazon Lex.”

Amazon Lex is integrated with AWS Lambda, the pioneer in event-driven computing that lets developers run code without provisioning or managing servers (serverless). This means that developers can build Amazon Lex conversational apps that use Lambda functions to implement business logic and retrieve data from enterprise applications and AWS Services like Amazon DynamoDB. Amazon Lex also includes built-in connectors that make it easy for conversational apps to access data from popular SaaS applications like Salesforce, Marketo, Zendesk, and QuickBooks so apps built using Amazon Lex can answer questions like “what are my top 10 accounts in Salesforce” by fetching appropriate data from Salesforce. Developers can also easily access analytics provided by Amazon Lex to measure various application performance and accuracy metrics that they can use to improve their apps over time.

The American Heart Association (AHA) is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. “The AHA engages nearly 1 million participants, nationwide, through our premier Heart Walk events to further our mission of saving lives,” said Roger Santone, Executive Vice President of Technology, AHA. “The world is rapidly changing and we are constantly rethinking traditional approaches to reach people at the pace that they live their everyday lives. We used Amazon Lex’s AI technology to streamline the registration process so prospective Heart Walk participants can use their natural voice to easily register through heartwalk.org. We are committed to the role that technology plays in enabling consumers, patients, and physicians to achieve better health outcomes and to further the mission of the AHA.”

Freshdesk is a leading provider of cloud-based customer engagement software, allowing organizations to support customers through email, phone, websites, forums, and social media. “Adding Amazon Lex to our cloud-based platform will help our customers provide a more personalized experience, a critical feature in customer support,” said Francesco Rovetta, Vice President Alliances, Freshdesk. “Our 100,000 customers will be able to use natural language to handle administrative tasks, review metrics and provide support, ultimately simplifying ticket management. Using Amazon Lex for intent identification, our customers will quickly be able to answer their clients’ questions, resulting in the ability for agents to address the more complex inquiries in a timely manner. With Alexa speech recognition and natural language technology, Amazon Lex maintains context in conversation, creating a more natural dialogue. We are excited to team up with Amazon Lex as we help organizations around the world deliver better, more personal support to their customers.”

Vonage is a leading provider of cloud communications for business. “The expansion of AI-driven conversational services has enabled businesses to engage with their customers in ways that are more meaningful and more contextual than ever before,” said Alan Masarek, Chief Executive Officer, Vonage. “With Amazon Lex, we can empower Vonage customers to choose how and where they will engage with us – building intelligent interaction paths into existing voice and messaging channels. Vonage is also developing ways to integrate Amazon Lex with our API Platform, Nexmo, to provide enterprise developers with an easy way to build custom conversational apps driven by natural language understanding and speech recognition, and deliver them through any medium, reaching customers wherever they are – whether it’s phone, text, app, or mobile device.”

Liberty Mutual Insurance helps people preserve and protect what they earn, build, own and cherish. “With the growing importance of cognitive technologies in every area of business, we were delighted to see Amazon Lex, with its Speech Recognition and Natural Language Understanding technologies, added to the broad portfolio of services AWS provides,” said Gillian Armstrong, Insurance Technologist, Liberty Mutual. “Amazon Lex integrates easily into our existing applications, as well as our new cloud-native serverless architectures, enabling us to rapidly take advantage of these powerful technologies to improve and extend the capabilities we can offer our employees and customers.”

Customers can launch Amazon Lex using the AWS Management Console, AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or AWS SDKs. Amazon Lex is available in the US East (N. Virginia) Region.

Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Amazon Web Services becomes preferred cloud infrastructure provider for HERE Technologies

Leading global provider of maps and location services continues to expand use of AWS to power its new Open Location Platform services

SEATTLE, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (Apr. 19, 2017), Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced that HERE Technologies (HERE), a leading global provider of maps and location services, has disclosed that AWS is its preferred cloud infrastructure provider. HERE has been using AWS for its core infrastructure and applications for several years, assisting HERE through the rapid growth in its business. HERE has now chosen to build its newest business extensions on AWS to further benefit from AWS’s depth and breadth of functionality, rapid pace of innovation, high performance, and experience managing enterprise workloads.

This year, HERE is introducing its first location services that collect and use real-time sensor data from connected vehicles, including brands like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. The services, built on the HERE Open Location Platform, will provide high-quality information on traffic conditions, potential road hazards, traffic signage, and on-street parking to help reduce traffic congestion and accidents, and make driving safer and more enjoyable for people around the world. HERE is also developing new location services to serve a range of other industries, including the broader transportation and logistics sectors, as well as infrastructure, manufacturing, retail, and advertising technology.

“We started using AWS’s storage and compute services for our production workloads several years ago and quickly came to rely on the unmatched security, reliability, performance, breadth, and scalability that AWS provides to us and to our own end customers,” said Angel L. Mendez, Chief Operating Officer at HERE. “As we continue to expand the reach of our Open Location Platform and enable global access to the world’s leading mapping and location services for consumers and businesses, building on the leading cloud provider with the broadest and deepest capabilities is key to our development and global expansion.”

“We increasingly see enterprises beginning their adoption of AWS with specific core workloads and then quickly expanding their use of AWS as they experience the powerful benefits it offers their IT infrastructure and overall business,” said Mike Clayville, Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Sales at AWS. “We’re excited to work closely with HERE as they launch their first commercial services powered by the Open Location Platform on AWS later this year, and bring incredible innovation to the world of connected cars and the broader Internet of Things.”

About Amazon Web Services
For 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 90 fully featured services for compute, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, developer, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, hybrid and enterprise applications, from 42 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world — including the fastest growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies — to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About HERE Technologie
HERE Technologies, the Open Location Platform Company, enables people, enterprises and cities to harness the power of location. By making sense of the world through the lens of location we empower our customers to achieve better outcomes – from helping a city manage its infrastructure or an enterprise optimize its assets to guiding drivers to their destination safely. To learn more about HERE, including our new generation of cloud-based location platform services, visit http://360.here.com and www.here.com.

Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline
Amazon-pr@amazon.com
www.amazon.com/pr

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Dunkin’ Brands Group migrates its mobile applications, e-commerce websites, and corporate IT infrastructure applications to AWS

Dunkin’ Brands has migrated mobile applications, e-commerce websites, and corporate IT infrastructure to AWS

SEATTLE, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (Apr. 19, 2017), Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced that Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN), the parent company of Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, has selected AWS as its cloud infrastructure provider. The company has completed the migration of its mobile applications, e-commerce websites, and key corporate IT infrastructure applications from on-premises infrastructure to AWS for increased scalability, reliability, availability, security, and reduced costs, and has improved the digital experience for Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins guests.

Dunkin’ Brands has a number of customer-facing applications, such as its mobile applications and e-commerce websites, which serve as a critical way for the company to interact with its customers. Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins customers frequently use their mobile applications to review the menu, order ahead, and redeem rewards, allowing customers to easily and quickly pay for their orders or send virtual gift cards. Several of these business applications, as well as the Dunkin’ Brands digital web properties, run on AWS. In addition to providing high performance, reliability, and security, AWS has enabled Dunkin’ Brands to maintain high availability during peaks in usage. For example, key consumer events like National Coffee Day and National Donut Day, as well as popular timeframes such as the holiday season, drive significant peaks in use of these key applications. While Dunkin’ Brands had previously found it increasingly difficult to predict and manage the on-premises capacity needed to provide an optimal digital experience for its guests during these times, it now relies on AWS to easily and reliably scale up and down as needed. In addition, Dunkin’ Brands has also migrated internal corporate IT infrastructure applications to AWS to reduce costs and increase availability.

“Our mobile applications and digital properties are an absolutely critical way through which we reach our customers and they must be secure, available, and high performing at all times,” said Santhosh Kumar, Vice President, Infrastructure, Data Security and Privacy at Dunkin’ Brands. “We selected AWS as our cloud infrastructure provider for these key business applications due to the depth and breadth of the AWS services, and their experience in securely managing enterprise applications. AWS also provides us with redundancy to help us meet our goals of high reliability and availability, robust security and optimal performance for our applications, and the ability to quickly add capacity on demand when needed.”

“Dunkin’ Brands is a great example of an enterprise company’s journey to AWS. They began their migration to AWS with their development and test workloads and websites, and after benefiting from lower costs, faster innovation rates, and improved reliability, migrated critical, customer-facing and corporate IT infrastructure applications,” said Mike Clayville, Vice President, Worldwide Sales at AWS. “We’re excited to work closely with Dunkin’ Brands as they continue their journey to AWS.”

About Amazon Web Services
For 11 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 90 fully featured services for compute, storage, networking, database, analytics, application services, deployment, management, developer, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, hybrid, and enterprise applications, from 42 Availability Zones (AZs) across 16 geographic regions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and the UK. AWS services are trusted by millions of active customers around the world — including the fastest growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies — to power their infrastructure, make them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit https://aws.amazon.com.

About Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc.
With more than 19,000 points of distribution in more than 60 countries worldwide, Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) is one of the world’s leading franchisors of quick service restaurants (QSR) serving hot and cold coffee and baked goods, as well as hard-serve ice cream. At the end of the third quarter 2016, Dunkin’ Brands’ nearly 100 percent franchised business model included more than 12,000 Dunkin’ Donutsrestaurants and more than 7,700 Baskin-Robbins restaurants. Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. is headquartered in Canton, Mass.

Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
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Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

AWS introduces new fully managed in-memory cache that can reduce Amazon DynamoDB response times from milliseconds to microseconds

New, fully managed in-memory cache can reduce Amazon DynamoDB response times from milliseconds to microseconds
Preview starts today

SEATTLE, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (Apr. 19, 2017), Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX), a fully managed, highly available, in-memory cache that can reduce Amazon DynamoDB response times from milliseconds to microseconds, even at millions of requests per second. Customers can add DAX to their existing DynamoDB applications with just a few clicks in the AWS Management Console – no application rewrites required. There are no upfront costs or commitments with DAX, and customers only pay for the capacity they provision. To learn more about DAX, visit https://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/dax.

Amazon DynamoDB has simplified NoSQL database management by providing a fully managed, seamlessly scalable NoSQL database service. More than a hundred thousand AWS customers, including, Adobe, AdRoll, Airbnb, Amazon, DataXu, Duolingo, Expedia, FanDuel, Lyft, Mapbox, MLB Advanced Media, Redfin, Supercell, Twilio, Under Armour, VidRoll, and Zynga rely on Amazon DynamoDB to deliver consistent, single-digit millisecond latency for some of the world’s largest mobile, web, gaming, ad tech, and IoT applications. However, many applications with near real-time requirements for accessing data (e.g. real-time bidding, weather data, social gaming, or financial trading) need even faster performance. Until now, achieving further performance gains has meant deploying and managing in-memory caching clusters in front of Amazon DynamoDB, which often require developers to rewrite their applications, and require a specialized skillset to implement and operate. With DAX, customers get a fully managed cache that boosts Amazon DynamoDB performance up to ten times, speeding response times to microseconds without requiring customers to setup, manage, and sync a separate caching cluster. Customers don’t need to rewrite their applications to get DAX for their DynamoDB apps; they simply provision a DAX cluster, point their application to the DAX endpoint, and DAX automatically caches item and query results in-memory on designated DAX instances. DAX clusters can scale while handling millions of requests per second, combining in-memory performance acceleration with the simplicity, flexibility, and scale of Amazon DynamoDB so applications remain fast and responsive regardless of the volume of requests.

“In just five years, Amazon DynamoDB has emerged as the backbone for many powerful Internet applications and Amazon’s consumer businesses, and today developers use Amazon DynamoDB to handle well over a trillion requests per day. But, customers that need applications to respond in microseconds have often asked us whether we could make Amazon DynamoDB even faster,” said Raju Gulabani, Vice President, Databases, Analytics, and AI, AWS. “We’re very excited to take Amazon DynamoDB’s performance to the next level with DAX – it’s like rocket fuel that can speed response times to microseconds for millions of requests per second without requiring customers to rewrite their applications. With DAX, applications remain fast and responsive – even when they experience massive spikes in request volumes.”

Expedia, Inc. is one of the world’s leading travel companies, helping millions of travelers per month easily plan and book travel. “At Expedia, we are longtime customers of AWS, and use DynamoDB across the company to power many of our applications,” said Brandon O’Brien, Principal Software Engineer, Expedia, Inc. “We received early access to Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator, and it has proven to be fast and easy to use. DAX represents a big opportunity for us to find the optimal balance between infrastructure cost and system performance.”

Eyeview Digital is a leader in ad tech focusing on video marketing technology. “In the Real-Time Bidding realm, using a lightning-fast and reliable key value store is a requirement you cannot work around, and for which we turned to Amazon DynamoDB. With hundreds of thousands of queries to Amazon DynamoDB per second, we have to make sure we are not hitting hot keys, balancing load, and optimizing for cost efficiency,” said Shahar Kobrinky, Vice President, Architecture and Scale, Eyeview. “Getting early access to DAX allowed us to do just that. Repeated users are now being handled by the DAX cache without making the more expensive (in both latency and cost) call to Amazon DynamoDB. We’re excited about DAX, and we can definitely see its value for many AWS customers as it has been and will continue to be valuable for us.”

Genesys is the global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact center solutions. “The AWS team has taken a best-practice architectural pattern and turned it into something repeatable and valuable for its customers. I expect DAX to become the de facto replacement for our distributed cache plus Amazon DynamoDB storage tier across our collections of microservices in PureCloud,” said Glenn Nethercutt, Chief Architect of PureCloud by Genesys. “The combination of sub-millisecond latency and simple transitions from the existing AmazonDynamoDB client means we’ll be able to rapidly adopt this service as it becomes available across the globe, significantly improving our performance and cost profile for read-intensive workloads.”

Twilio helps businesses make communications relevant and contextual by making it possible to easily embed real-time communication and authentication capabilities directly into software applications. “We depend upon Amazon DynamoDB’s consistent performance and scalability and trust it to power our Programmable Chat offering,” said Pat Malatack, General Manager of Twilio Messaging. “The ability to supercharge DynamoDB with DAX is something we’re looking forward to.”

Source: Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline
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Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Russell Athletic clothing for both men and women launches at Sainsbury’s

Russell Athletic clothing for both men and women launches at Sainsbury’s

LONDON, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — This week Sainsbury’s will launch its new alliance with the iconic American sportswear brand Russell Athletic. A wide range of Russell Athletic clothing for both men and women, as well as accessories for men, will be available on Sainsbury’s Tu clothing website as part of the retailer’s strategy to offer customers choice across different channels.

The partnership with Russell Athletic will mark the first time female customers are able to buy branded clothing alongside Sainsbury’s Tu range. For men, it follows the success of leisurewear brand Admiral.

Sainsbury’s launched its first branded partnership with Admiral in stores and online in August 2015. The brand has seen strong growth since then, with sales up 155 per cent compared with the initial launch. The collection was originally available in 100 Sainsbury’s stores but quickly expanded to 170 stores with a wider range to keep up with growing customer demand.

The partnership with Russell Athletic comes as the trend for wearing sports-style clothing for everyday activities continues to grow. ‘Athleisure’ sales have grown 42 per cent over the past seven years and the market is worth £204 billion globally and £7 billion in the UK.

The move will enable Sainsbury’s to further grow market share and compete with high-street brands by offering customers the same style and quality at supermarket prices.

Inspired by University and College sports and worn by world class USA athletes including major league baseball and NFL players, the Russell Athletic range delivers classic vintage styling through premium jersey fabrics teamed with the iconic arch logo.

Sainsbury’s Commercial Director, James Brown, said: “Sainsbury’s clothing business is quickly becoming a destination fashion brand, growing strongly over recent years and continuing to gain market share. Through working with brands we are able to offer our customers an even greater choice alongside our popular Tu range. Russell Athletic shares our approach to great quality at fantastic value and we are delighted to be able to offer our customers its iconic sportswear. Admiral has proved successful on menswear and we are sure that both our male and female customers will love this new range.”

VP Future Brands Ltd Russell Athletic, Zubair Mal, said: “We’re excited to be launching Russell Athletic clothing and accessories in Sainsbury’s. With its growing online offer, customers will be able to find new ways to shop our products with a brand they know and trust. Whether on or off the field, inside the gym or out, Russell Athletic provides stylish products that are both comfortable and performance driven and we’re confident Sainsbury’s customers will be big fans of the range.”

Sainsbury’s Tu clothing saw growth of 15 per cent in the last two years. The supermarket is the UK’s sixth biggest clothing retailer by volume and tenth by value.

SOURCE: J Sainsbury plc

For corporate press enquiries please contact press_office@sainsburys.co.uk or call 020 7695 7295.

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Lowe’s to sell $1.50 billion of 3.100% Notes due 2027 and $1.50 billion of 4.050% Notes due 2047

MOORESVILLE, N.C., 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) announced today it has agreed to sell $1.50 billion of 3.100% Notes due 2027 and $1.50 billion of 4.050% Notes due 2047 (collectively, the “Notes”). Estimated net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $2.96 billion, after deducting offering expenses and underwriters’ discounts. Lowe’s plans to use the net proceeds from the sale of the Notes (i) to fund its purchase for cash of up to $1.6 billion combined aggregate principal amount of certain outstanding notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase in the tender offer it commenced today, (ii) for the repayment of $250 million aggregate principal amount at maturity of its 6.100% Notes due September 15, 2017 and (iii) for other general corporate purposes. Closing is expected to occur on May 3, 2017, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc. are acting as joint book-running managers for the notes offering. This offering was made under an effective registration statement on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation to buy or an offer to purchase any securities. Any offers to sell, or solicitations to buy, will be made solely by means of a prospectus and related prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A copy of the prospectus and related prospectus supplement for this offering may be obtained from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, 200 North College Street, NC1-004-03-43, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attention: Prospectus Department, Telephone: 1-800-294-1322, Email: dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, 383 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10179, Attention: Investment Grade Syndicate Desk, 3rd Floor, Telephone: 1-212-834-4533; or SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., 303 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308, Attention: Prospectus Dept., Telephone: 1-800-685-4786, Facsimile: 404-926-5027, Email: STRHdocs@SunTrust.com. The tender offer is being made only pursuant to an Offer to Purchase dated April 19, 2017 and a related Letter of Transmittal, which set forth the terms and conditions of the tender offer, and only in such jurisdictions as is permitted under applicable law.

Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Included herein are forward-looking statements, including statements with respect to an anticipated financing. There are many factors that affect management’s views about future events and trends of the business and operations of the company, all as more thoroughly described in the company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking information included in this release or any of its public filings.

About Lowe’s
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving more than 17 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2016 sales of $65.0 billion, Lowe’s and its related businesses operate or service 2,365 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 290,000 people. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s supports the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. For more information, visit www.Lowes.com.

SOURCE Lowe’s Companies, Inc.

Media Inquiries
704-758-2917
PublicRelations@Lowes.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

A. O. Smith Signature Series water heaters now available exclusively at Lowe’s stores and online

MOORESVILLE, N.C., 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Lowe’s announced today the introduction of A. O. Smith Signature Series water heaters now available exclusively at Lowe’s stores nationwide and online at Lowes.com.

The Signature Series line of water heaters manufactured by A. O. Smith, the leading brand in the residential water heating market, will consist of the Signature™, Signature Select™, and Signature Premier™ options and includes a wide range of gas and electric tank-type models to suit all customer needs.

Several of the water heaters feature the Energy Star® designation, most notably the line of A. O. Smith Signature Premier high-efficiency electric heat pump water heaters. The heat pump products are more than twice as energy efficient as a standard electric water heater.

“A. O. Smith has been serving residential water heater customers for nearly 80 years and has come to be recognized as the most trusted brand in the industry,” said Michael McDermott, Lowe’s chief customer officer. “We are pleased to add the highly respected A. O. Smith brand to our portfolio and provide the latest in water heater innovation and value to our customers.”

To make the shopping experience easier for customers, the A. O. Smith water heaters will be featured in a dedicated display designed to quickly educate shoppers on their selection options. The display will also feature TextConnect, which delivers a Product Selector and customized product performance metrics directly to the customer.

For more information on the new product line visit www.Lowes.com/waterheaters or www.AOSmithatLowes.com.

About Lowe’s
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE^® 50 home improvement company serving more than 17 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2016 sales of $65.0 billion, Lowe’s and its related businesses operate or service 2,365 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 290,000 people. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe’s supports the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

About A. O. Smith
A. O. Smith Corporation is a leading global manufacturer and marketer of residential and commercial water heaters and water treatment products. A. O. Smith offers its customers an additional competitive advantage in that the company designs, builds, distributes and supports the world’s broadest and deepest line of residential and commercial water heaters, as well as commercial boilers. This single-source concept simplifies ordering, installation and service and is backed by more than 80 years of research and innovation. For the most up-to-date A. O. Smith news visit www.AOSmithatLowes.com.

SOURCE Lowe’s Companies, Inc.

Media Inquiries
704-758-2917
PublicRelations@Lowes.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Michaels and Pinterest launch Make It Kits to help anyone become a more experienced crafter

Unveil First “Make It Kit” Collaboration, Available For a Limited Time Starting April 20^th

IRVING, Texas, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Michaels and Pinterest today announced a partnership to launch Make It Kits, a unique kit which includes all the necessary supplies to help anyone, from a beginner to a more experienced crafter, make one of the most trending projects on Pinterest. Exclusive to Michaels, the co-branded Make It Kits were developed using Pinterest insights and trends, along with Michaels’ product expertise and e-commerce capabilities.

“Michaels is committed to making it easier, more accessible and most importantly, more fun for people to make,” said Carrie Walsh, senior vice president of marketing for Michaels. “Pinterest helps people discover things they love, and our Make It Kit partnership is a perfect way to bring that inspiration to life.”

Michaels, North America’s largest arts and crafts specialty retailer, is collaborating with Pinterest, an app that helps you discover and do things to design your life, to encourage people of all skill levels to turn their ideas into personalized, do-it-yourself crafts with their new Make It Kits. Inspired by Pinterest insights, Make It Kits lets you turn your online Pins into tangible projects.

The first Make It Kit: “Shibori for Your Home” features Shibori style dyeing project, and contains everything needed to complete the project, including Paper Pin cards with step-by-step instructions, tea towels, dye, and materials for three different dyeing techniques. Pinterest has seen over 1.7 billion home décor Pins and more than 27 million people saving home décor content, specifically, shibori style dye searches have increased 56% in the past year, with Pinners saving 2.6 million ideas in 2016.

“People come to Pinterest looking for new ideas to try in their daily lives, and we are thrilled to see that Michaels is transforming popular Pinterest trends into projects to help people turn inspiration to action,” said Alastair Cotterill, Global Head of The Studio, Pinterest. “Partners like Michaels are an important part of fulfilling our mission to help people discover and do what they love.”

On April 20^th, Michaels Rewards customers will have an exclusive, member-only early access to purchase the new Make It Kit: “Shibori for Your Home” via Promoted Pins and a special email offer. Beginning April 21^st, anyone will be able to buy the Make It Kits on michaels.com, while supplies last. For more information on this and other Michaels’ products, projects and classes, visit www.michaels.com.

About The Michaels Companies, Inc.:

The Michaels Companies, Inc. is North America’s largest specialty provider of arts, crafts, framing, floral, wall décor, and seasonal merchandise for the hobbyist and do-it-yourself home decorator.

As of January 28, 2017, the Company owned and operated 1,367 stores in 49 states and Canada under the brands Michaels, Aaron Brothers, and Pat Catan’s. The Michaels Companies, Inc. also owns Artistree, a manufacturer of high quality custom and specialty framing merchandise, and Darice, a premier wholesale distributor in the craft, gift and decor industry. The Michaels Companies, Inc. produces a number of private brands including Recollections®, Studio Decor™®, Bead Landing®, Creatology®, Ashland®, Celebrate It®, ArtMinds®, Artist’s Loft®, Craft Smart®, Loops & Threads®, Make Market™, Foamies®, LockerLookz®, Imagin8®, and Sticky Sticks®. Learn more about Michaels at www.michaels.com.

The Michaels Companies, Inc.
Mallory Smith, 972-409-5244
Mallory.smith@michaels.com

Source: The Michaels Companies, Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Albertsons Companies appoints Wayne Denningham to the new role of President and COO

BOISE, Idaho, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Albertsons Companies today announced Wayne Denningham, EVP & Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed to the new role of President and Chief Operating Officer for Albertsons Companies. Bob Miller remains Chairman and CEO, a role he has held since April 2015.

Denningham will continue to lead store operations with added oversight of Marketing & Merchandising, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Integration, all of which will continue under their current leadership.

“This is the strongest leadership team I’ve worked with in my 50+ years in this industry,” said Bob Miller, Chairman and CEO of Albertsons Companies. “I asked Wayne to join Albertsons LLC in 2006 to lead our Rocky Mountain Division. Since that time, he’s led three different divisions, helped to negotiate and manage some of our most significant acquisitions, and successfully turned around some of our toughest assets. He’s a remarkable leader with tremendous grocery retail acumen, and I’m pleased that he’s accepted this new role.”

Denningham began his career with Albertson’s, Inc. in 1977 as a clerk and worked his way up in the organization, serving in district manager roles in three different divisions before being named Division President, first of the Rocky Mountain division and later the Florida division. Subsequently, he was promoted to Regional President for five divisions of Albertsons, and then served as both Executive Vice President of Marketing & Merchandising and Executive Vice President of Operations for the company before leaving in 2004. He joined Albertson’s LLC in 2006 and served as Division President of the Rocky Mountain, Florida and Southern divisions over the next seven years. In March 2013, Denningham was named Division President of the Southern California division following the acquisition of 877 stores from SUPERVALU, and in January 2015, he assumed the role of South Region Chief Operating Officer following the merger with Safeway. He was named EVP & Chief Operating Officer for the company in April 2015.

Denningham is based at the company’s Boise, Idaho corporate campus.

About Albertsons Companies
Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States, with both a strong local presence and national scale. We operate stores across 35 states and the District of Columbia under 19 well-known banners including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen and Carrs. Albertsons Companies is committed to helping people across the country live better lives by making a meaningful difference, neighborhood by neighborhood. In 2016 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave nearly $300 million in food and financial support. These efforts helped millions of people in the areas of hunger relief, education, cancer research and treatment, programs for people with disabilities and veterans outreach.

SOURCE: Albertsons, LLC.

Contact: Christine Wilcox
christine.wilcox@albertsons.com | 208-395-4163

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

CVS Pharmacy removes parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors across beauty and personal care products

Parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors will be removed from extensive line of store brand beauty and personal care products
Company also publishes full list of restricted chemicals

WOONSOCKET, R.I., 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (April 19, 2017) CVS Pharmacy (NYSE:CVS), America’s leading retail pharmacy, took a major step forward in advancing its efforts to address chemicals of consumer concern by announcing the removal of parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors across nearly 600 beauty and personal care products from its store brand CVS Health, Beauty 360, Essence of Beauty, and Blade product lines. The Promise Organic line of store brand products also does not contain any of these ingredients. CVS Pharmacy will stop shipping store brand products that don’t meet these standards to distribution centers by the end of 2019.

As a company driven by its purpose of helping people on their path to better health, this latest action is a significant milestone in its journey toward more sustainable products that satisfy consumer expectations. The company has also published its full list of restricted chemicals by product category here.

“We are committed to providing our customers with the safe, efficacious products that they are looking for,” said Cia Tucci, vice president of store brands and Quality Assurance at CVS Health. “We listened when customers voiced their desire for products that still provide the benefits they need with fewer ingredients of concern. Today’s announcement is a natural step in the evolution of our comprehensive approach to chemical safety.”

While all store brand products have always been subject to stringent standards of safety, quality and environmental responsibility and – at a minimum – meet all federal and state requirements, customer feedback has driven this move to eliminate parabens, phthalates and the most prevalent formaldehyde donors. In addition to listening to customers, CVS Health has also engaged with industry experts and key advocacy groups to ensure that product quality can be maintained through this transition. Over the past several years, CVS Health has engaged with the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF) coalition and its Mind the Store campaign, an organization working to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in consumer products, strengthen the understanding of chemicals of consumer concern and inform opportunities for retailers to advance chemical safety in consumer products.

“This announcement is an exciting milestone not only for CVS Health, but for retailers and the role they play in driving change toward safer consumer products,” said Mike Schade, Mind the Store campaign director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. “We applaud CVS Health for the action it is taking today and we look forward to continued collaboration ahead. We hope other retailers will follow suit.”

The evolution of CVS Health’s chemical policy builds off a foundation laid over the last decade to advance its chemical management efforts. In 2007, the company became the first major drugstore to establish a Cosmetic Safety Policy in 2008. Since then, CVS Health has made substantial progress toward sustainable chemical management, including the launch of the WERCSmart tool in 2013 to ensure suppliers register ingredient information for all chemical-based products. In 2016, CVS Health became the first major pharmacy chain in the country to become a signatory of the Chemical Footprint Project.

“Our consumers expect both transparency and quality when it comes to ingredients in the products they use,” said Eileen Howard Boone, senior vice president of CSR and philanthropy at CVS Health. “This is an important step, and we look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders to address additional chemicals of consumer concern and focus on more product categories in the future.”

For more information on CVS Health’s Corporate Social Responsibility program, visit: www.cvshealth.com/social-responsibility.

About CVS Health
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is a pharmacy innovation company helping people on their path to better health. Through its more than 9,700 retail locations, more than 1,100 walk-in medical clinics, a leading pharmacy benefits manager with nearly 90 million plan members, a dedicated senior pharmacy care business serving more than one million patients per year, expanding specialty pharmacy services, and a leading stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan, the company enables people, businesses and communities to manage health in more affordable and effective ways. This unique integrated model increases access to quality care, delivers better health outcomes and lowers overall health care costs. Find more information about how CVS Health is shaping the future of health at https://www.cvshealth.com.

About CVS Pharmacy
CVS Pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Health (NYSE: CVS), is America’s leading retail pharmacy with over 9,700 locations. It is the first national pharmacy to end the sale of tobacco and the first pharmacy in the nation to receive the Community Pharmacy accreditation from URAC, the leading health care accreditation organization that establishes quality standards for the health care industry. CVS Pharmacy is reinventing pharmacy to help people on their path to better health by providing the most accessible and personalized expertise, both in its stores and online at CVS.com. General information about CVS Pharmacy and CVS Health is available at www.cvshealth.com.

SOURCE: CVS Health

Media Contacts

Stephanie Cunha
Public Relations Manager
CVS Pharmacy
Stephanie.Cunha@CVSHealth.com
401-770-9354

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

BRC launches The Tariff Roadmap for the Next Government as part of its A Fair Brexit for Consumers project

LONDON, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ —As part of our A Fair Brexit For Consumers project, we have launched The Tariff Roadmap For The Next Government.

The report focusses on the tariff aspects of Brexit, illustrating Britain’s current import trade relationships with data and facts to highlight the risks and opportunities presented by the journey ahead.

HELEN DICKINSON OBE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE BRC SAID:

“Ensuring the journey ahead is positive for both retailers and consumers requires an orderly and sequenced Brexit process. The first step is to mitigate the risks by securing the continuation of tariff-free trade with the EU, to avoid further upward pressure on food prices. Next, is the need to replicate the EU’s existing deals with developing countries. Only then, should the Government look to realise the opportunities presented by new trading relationships with the rest of the world.”

DOWNLOAD

SOURCE: British Retail Consortium

PRESS CONTACT

TELEPHONE+ 44 (0) 20 7854 8924
OUT OF HOURS+44 (0) 7557747269

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Retail Pro Link earns certification with the SAP Business One® application

FOLSOM, CA, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Retail Pro International today announced that its Retail Pro Link has achieved certification with the SAP Business One® application. The SAP Integration and Certification Center has certified that the Retail Pro Link 1.0 has been proven to integrate with SAP Business One, providing mid-size specialty retailers automated interchange of data and documents between Retail Pro and SAP Business One, with email notifications and alerts, and total control over interchange frequency for each document.

The Retail Pro link leverages DI-API and ECM communications to enable the smooth flow of pertinent retail data between Retail Pro Link and SAP Business One. Retail Pro Link will automatically receive data critical to store operations – like new products, product modifications, prices, ASN and other information – from SAP Business One, and will send back store data critical to performance tracking and retail management – like sales, tenders, customer details, vouchers, inventory adjustments and other store information.

This allows retailers leveraging the Retail Pro Link to achieve the following benefits:

Increased operational efficiency in the retail environment by keeping the Retail Pro and SAP Business One databases synchronized
Ease of use, flexible configuration, and total control over exchange parameters and frequency in Retail Pro and SAP Business One
Smooth cooperation between Retail Pro technology in stores and SAP Business One technology in the back office
Better allocation of data management labor resources by automating document-exchange execution and notifications

“We are pleased to announce the successful achievement of SAP certification for the Retail Pro Link solution,” said Kerry Lemos, CEO, Retail Pro International. “The smooth integration of Retail Pro and SAP Business One will help retailers optimize and more effectively manage operations across their business. In addition, the global availability of both Retail Pro and SAP Business One is a significant benefit to our current and future retail customers, especially those with operations in multiple markets worldwide.”

The SAP Business One application helps small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) and subsidiaries of larger businesses to instantly analyze growing volumes of data and gain the benefits of fast application performance while maintaining a streamlined IT landscape. Available on premise or in the cloud hosted by partners, it is designed with flexibility and choice in mind to help SMEs innovate and achieve scalable growth.

About Retail Pro

Retail Pro International (RPI) is a global leader in retail management software that is recognized world-wide for rich functionality, multi-national capabilities, and unparalleled flexibility. For 30 years, RPI has innovated retail software solutions to help retailers optimize business operations and have more time to focus on what really matters – cultivating customer engagement and capitalizing on retail’s trends. Retail Pro is the chosen software platform for unified commerce strategy by retailers in 125+ countries. To learn more, visit www.retailpro.com

SOURCE: Retail Pro International

PRESS CONTACT

Alexandra Frith
afrith@retailpro.com
+1 (916) 605-7210

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Lindex sustainability report for 2016 released

Lindex sustainability report for 2016 released

Göteborg, Sweden, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (April 19, 2017) Lindex sustainability report for 2016 is released. The fashion company shows progress within several areas as a result of a dedicated sustainability work with partnership, innovation and transparency in the centre.

Sustainability is essential in our business at Lindex. I am very proud of our great results and the dedication of Lindex employees and partners who drive change and improvement every day. We continue to work towards our goal that 80 per cent of our fashion will come from more sustainable sources by 2020, says Ingvar Larsson, CEO at Lindex

The sustainability report includes both overall and in-depth information about Lindex opportunities and challenges within sustainability. The fashion company describes initiatives, results and progress from 2016, such as:

Improved share of more sustainable fibres
Lindex goal is that 80 per cent of the garments will be made from more sustainable fibres by 2020. In 2016 Lindex reached over 50 per cent and more than 90 per cent of the fashion company’s cotton came from more sustainable sources.

Improved production processes
Lindex has made further progress regarding production processes with focus on decreased consumption of water, energy and chemicals. In 2016 STWI-projects in the supply chain resulted in water savings in Lindex production that equals the daily need for 13 million people.

Progress with Better Denim
In 2016 Lindex more sustainable denim assortment was developed further and 100 per cent of the fashion company’s denim is now Better Denim, which are made from more sustainable materials and with more sustainable washing processes. Almost 90 per cent of the denim assortment is also dyed with the cleanest indigo on the market, which is better for the environment and the people working in the production.

Contribution to the fight against breast cancer
2016 was another successful year for Lindex contribution to the fight against breast cancer, with a donation of 1.2 million euro. Together with the customers Lindex has contributed with over 12 million euro since 2003.

The entire report is available to read here.

SOURCE: Lindex

Press contacts
Corporate
Miriam Tjernström, Press Relations Manager
E-mail: press@lindex.com
Phone: +46 31 739 50 60

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Subway® launches sandwich ordering bot for Facebook

Guests can order with bot for Messenger to more than 26,500 restaurants in the U.S

San Jose, CA & Milford, CT, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Subway® restaurants launched a bot for Facebook Messenger today that allows guests to order sandwiches and salads from more than 26,500 Subway® restaurants in the U.S. The first-of-its-kind sandwich ordering bot was announced at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference with Agilitee, one of Subway’s digital partners, and is the latest innovation from Subway® Digital. Guests can use the bot to order a sandwich or salad, customize it with their favorite bread; cheese; vegetables; and sauce, and pay on any device that supports Messenger. The bot for Messenger is the latest addition to the brand’s mobile order systems that includes web ordering and app ordering.

To use the bot: launch the Messenger app, visit Messenger.com or visit Facebook.com/subway and tap ‘Start Order.’ The bot will ask for the user’s location to find the closest Subway® restaurant. Then, the user is guided through selecting the sub bread, cheese, vegetables and sauce, as well as drinks, cookies or chips. Users choose their payment method: Facebook’s payment system or Masterpass, a digital payment service from Mastercard, and the order will be ready for pick up in 15 minutes or less.

“Our bot for Messenger was just deployed in more than 26,500 U.S. Subway® restaurants- the largest deployments of a Messenger bot in the restaurant industry. We’re proud to offer our guests an innovative new way to order and pay outside the restaurants,” said Carman Wenkoff, Subway’s Chief Information, and Digital Officer. “This is a new initiative in the on-going quest to enhance the guest experience.”

“We’re excited that Subway® is expanding their mobile order capabilities with a bot,” said Stan Chudnovsky, Vice President of Product for Messenger. “It’s a simple way to order food, and available to anyone who already has Messenger.”

The Subway® Digital team is innovating the brand’s digital properties, enhancing the guest experience with a comprehensive global strategy. Subway® Digital, created in 2016, is hiring more than 150 people for jobs supporting the brand’s omnichannel approach.

About Subway® Restaurants
Guests in 112 countries have easy access to a fresh line-up of vegetables for their made-to-order sandwiches and salads at more than 44,600 franchised locations. Sandwich Artists serve 7.5 million sandwiches a day around the world. The company, founded over 50 years ago by then 17-year-old Fred DeLuca and family-friend Dr. Peter Buck, is still a family-owned business with thousands of dedicated franchisees/entrepreneurs in neighborhoods around the world, providing easy access to vegetables, detailed nutrition, dietary, and healthy lifestyle information. This has been a priority for the Subway® restaurants chain for many years. To learn more, visit www.subway.com. Subway® is a registered trademark of Subway IP Inc.

SOURCE: Subway IP Inc.

Press Contact

If you are a member of the media, please contact us at press@subway.com with details of your inquiry and deadline.

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

wagamama abre su primer restaurante en España

wagamama abre su primer restaurante en España

MADRID, Spain, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Mañana abrirá en Madrid el primer restaurante wagamama de España, ubicado en el número 41 de la céntrica calle Serrano, en plena milla de oro del barrio de Salamanca.

Especializado en cocina pan-asiática, wagamama se caracteriza por su gran variedad de platos nutritivos y hechos al momento, principalmente inspirados en la cocina japonesa, pero también tintados de inﬂuencias coreanas, tailandesas y chinas. Conviven en su carta aromáticos ramens, típicos teppanyakis, generosos donburis y coloridos curris con ensaladas, opciones para compartir, postres y una rica selección de cervezas asiáticas y vinos. Todos los platos están preparados a la vista del comensal, en una gran cocina abierta que forma parte integrante de la sala del restaurante. Cada plato se sirve justo en el momento en el que está listo para garantizar su máxima frescura y preservar todos sus sabores, una práctica de larga tradición en wagamama.

En el nuevo restaurante de Madrid se podrá disfrutar de los platos estrella de la marca como el chilli squid, un plato ideal para compartir de calamar frito sazonado con una mezcla de siete especias shichimi, el chicken katsu, pollo al curry muy aromático servido en una cama de arroz japonés, o el ramen wagamama, especialidad de la casa desde sus inicios. Los noodles -de trigo y huevo o de arroz- son una receta propia de wagamama que la marca ha ido perfeccionando durante sus 25 años de existencia. Además, wagamama se caracteriza por su amplia variedad de zumos frescos, exprimidos y servidos en el momento: diez recetas disponibles en dos tamaños (small o grande) entre las que se incluyen el super green compuesto de manzana, menta, apio y lima, el raw juice que incluye zanahorias, pepino, tomate, naranja y manzana o el blueberry spice con arándano, manzana y zanahoria con un toque de jengibre.

El restaurante cuenta con un amplio espacio de 335 metros cuadrados con capacidad para más de 180 comensales y mucha luz natural gracias a sus grandes ventanales a la calle Serrano. Luce un diseño minimalista, moderno y elegante con una cuidada iluminación y elementos que combinan distintos materiales como madera maciza, ladrillos a la vista, mármol, acero o bronce pulido. Cuenta con las características mesas comunales y bancos corridos de wagamama en los que compartir la experiencia con el resto de comensales, así como mesas bajas y altas, en sala o junto a la cocina vista, para que cada visitante encuentre el espacio ideal para cada momento.

“Estamos muy ilusionados de traer a España una marca líder de cocina pan-asiática, con un éxito increíble, avalado por más de 25 años de historia y cuyo atractivo sigue tan actual como el primer día. Con wagamama, enriquecemos nuestro portfolio de marcas con un concepto que responde perfectamente a la demanda actual del consumidor: transparencia, mucha personalidad, calidad y frescura de los ingredientes, cocina sana y nutritiva hecha al momento y a la vista, en un ambiente moderno y casual.” Apunta Álvaro Salafranca, director general de wagamama para España y Portugal.

El primer restaurante wagamama abrió en Londres en el barrio de Bloomsbury en 1992 con una misión clara: crear un lugar dónde ofrecer una cocina positiva para satisfacer tanto el cuerpo como el alma. La marca es reconocida como pionera en haber introducido el concepto de mesas comunales, de cocina abierta a la vista del cliente, así como de platos cocinados y servidos en el momento.

Esta esencia ha seguido intacta a lo largo de estas últimas dos décadas, manteniendo el foco en la positividad, la frescura y calidad de los ingredientes, con un espíritu incansable de mejora continua. Kaizen, palabra japonesa que signiﬁca “mejora continua”, es decir esforzarse cada día por ser mejores que el día anterior, es el principio que guía a wagamama desde sus inicios. El wagamama actual es el resultado de esta evolución constante de la marca y de su oferta culinaria, tratando de crear y ofrecer una experiencia siempre actual, atractiva y sorprendente, alejada de los tópicos asiáticos.

Wagamama se ha convertido en un icono de la cultura gastronómica británica y ha crecido signiﬁcativamente estos últimos años, dando el paso a una expansión internacional que suma hoy más de 170 restaurantes en más de 20 países.

Esta primera apertura en Madrid es fruto del acuerdo sellado el pasado mes de julio de 2016 entre la marca de origen londinense y Grupo Vips, que con esta nueva apuesta, viene a completar su portfolio de enseñas introduciendo en España la marca líder a nivel internacional en el segmento de la cocina pan-asiática.

Grupo Vips, que mantiene la licencia exclusiva para operar la marca tanto en España como en Portugal, tiene previsto abrir cuatro restaurantes este año. Concretamente un segundo wagamama abrirá sus puertas en la calle Génova, nº 27 en el mes de junio, seguido de dos aperturas más previstas para el segundo semestre del año. El plan de expansión de la marca contempla abrir más de 20 locales en los próximos 5 años, en España y Portugal.

Información acerca del restaurante:

Dirección: Calle Serrano, 41 – 28001 Madrid

Horario: De lunes a jueves y domingos: de 12:00 a 00:00 Viernes, sábados y vísperas de festivos: de 12:00 a 01:00 Ticket medio: 15 euros

Próxima apertura: calle Génova, 27 – 28004 Madrid

Sobre Grupo Vips:

Grupo Vips es uno de los grupos multimarca y multiformato líderes del sector de la hostelería y el comercio en España. Integra estaurantes, cafeterías y tiendas. La compañía gestiona en propiedad o bajo el régimen de franquicia un total de seis reconocidas cadenas: Vips (cafetería-restaurante y tienda), Vips Smart, Ginos, Fridays, Wagamama y Starbucks Coffee en España, Portugal y Andorra. Además, la compañía cuenta con una fábrica premium de sándwiches, ensaladas y productos para levar, BSF. La empresa suma más de 350 establecimientos que atienden a más de 120.000 clientes diarios. Posee un programa de ﬁdelización pionero y líder en el sector de la restauración, Club VIPS, con más de 1.000.000 socios en toda España y cuya App, única en el mercado y lanzada a ﬁnales de abril 2015, cuenta ya con más de 700.000 descargas. Grupo Vips es una compañía de capital privado fundada en 1969. El accionariado de Grupo Vips está compuesto en un 70% por los socios mayoritarios y fundadores, liderados por la familia Arango, y en un 30% por el fondo ProA Capital. Grupo Vips da empleo a más de 9.300 personas y cerró el ejercicio 2015 con 377,6 millones de euros de facturación.

www.grupovips.com

Sala de prensa de Grupo Vips www.grupovips.com/nuestra-actualidad/sala-de-prensa Descubre la App Club VIPS en www.clubvips.com

Sobre wagamama

Wagamama es una cadena de restaurantes inspirada en comida japonesa que combina alimentos frescos y nutritivos con un servicio amable y excelente relación calidad-precio. Con la apertura de su primer restaurante en Bloomsbury (Londres) en 1992, Wagamama creó una nueva experiencia gastronómica en Reino Unido. Actualmente, Wagamama opera en 20 países. Wagamama ha recibido el Premio CGA Peach Honours de 2015 por su evolución de marca, el Consumer Choice Award en 2014, ecibiendo el voto de más de 20.000 consumidores de Reino Unido. También fue ﬁnalista en la categoría de ‘Mejor Marca’ en os Marketing Society Awards de 2015 y el codiciado Premio ‘London’s Favourite Chain Restaurant’ en la Guía London Zagat de 2013. Wagamama ha sido reconocida también como uno de los Mejores Lugares de Comidas para Niños en la Soil Association de 2013, “Out to Lunch”

Más información en www. wagamama.es / www.wagamama.com

SOURCE: Grupo Vips

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Office Depot to sell its business in Australia and New Zealand to Platinum Equity

BOCA RATON, Fla., 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Office Depot, Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP) today announced that it has reached an agreement to sell its business in Australia and New Zealand to Platinum Equity. Office Depot had previously disclosed its intention to sell substantially all of its international businesses under a process that began in 2016.

“I’m very pleased that we were able to reach a favorable agreement to sell the Australia and New Zealand businesses to Platinum Equity,” said Gerry Smith, chief executive officer for Office Depot. “The proceeds from this transaction will further enhance our financial flexibility as we focus on our strategic initiatives to grow our North American business.”

Platinum Equity is a leading global private equity firm with a highly specialized focus on business operations and more than 20 years’ of experience acquiring and operating businesses that have been part of large corporate entities.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in each country and is expected to close within the next several months.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. acted as Office Depot’s exclusive financial advisor on the transaction.

About Office Depot, Inc.
Office Depot, Inc. is a leading global provider of products, services, and solutions for every workplace – whether your workplace is an office, home, school or car.

The company had annual sales of approximately $11 billion, employed approximately 38,000 associates, and served consumers and businesses in North America and abroad with approximately 1,400 retail stores, award-winning e-commerce sites and a dedicated business-to-business sales organization – with a global network of wholly owned operations, franchisees, licensees and alliance partners. The company operates under several banner brands including Office Depot, OfficeMax and Grand & Toy. The company’s portfolio of exclusive product brands include TUL, Foray, Brenton Studio, Ativa, WorkPro, Realspace and Highmark.

Office Depot, Inc.’s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “ODP.”

Office Depot is a trademark of The Office Club, Inc. OfficeMax is a trademark of OMX, Inc. ©2017 Office Depot, Inc. All rights reserved. Any other product or company names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This communication may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements or disclosures may discuss goals, intentions and expectations as to future trends, plans, events, results of operations, cash flow or financial condition, or state other information relating to, among other things, Office Depot, based on current beliefs and assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. Forward-looking statements generally will be accompanied by words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “propose” or other similar words, phrases or expressions, or other variations of such words. These forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside of Office Depot’s control. There can be no assurances that Office Depot will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will prove correct, and therefore investors and stockholders should not place undue reliance on such statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among other things, impacts and risks related to the termination of the Staples acquisition, disruption in key business activities or any impact on Office Depot’s relationships with third parties as a result of the announcement of the termination of the Staples Merger Agreement; unanticipated changes in the markets for Office Depot’s business segments; the inability to realize expected benefits from the disposition of the European operations; fluctuations in currency exchange rates, unanticipated downturns in business relationships with customers or terms with the company’s suppliers; competitive pressures on Office Depot’s sales and pricing; increases in the cost of material, energy and other production costs, or unexpected costs that cannot be recouped in product pricing; the introduction of competing technology products and services; unexpected technical or marketing difficulties; unexpected claims, charges, litigation, dispute resolutions or settlement expenses; new laws, tariffs and governmental regulations. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Investors and stockholders should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in Office Depot’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Office Depot does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE: Office DEPOT® | OfficeMax®

Office Depot, Inc.
Richard Leland, 561-438-3796
Investor Relations
Richard.Leland@officedepot.com
or
Karen Denning, 630-438-7445
Media Relations
Karen.Denning@officedepot.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Zalando SE grew revenues in the 1Q 2017 by 22.0-24.0% to EUR 971-987 million

Revenues at EUR 971-987 million (22.0-24.0% growth)
Adjusted EBIT of EUR 10-30 million (1.0-3.0% margin)
Full-year guidance confirmed

BERLIN, Germany, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Zalando SE, Europe’s leading online platform for fashion, grew revenues in the first quarter of 2017 by 22.0-24.0% to EUR 971-987 million (Q1 2016: EUR 796.1 million), according to preliminary figures. Zalando expects to achieve an adjusted EBIT of EUR 10-30 million, corresponding to an adjusted EBIT margin of 1.0-3.0% (Q1 2016: EUR 20.2 million or 2.5%) for the same period. Zalando confirms its full-year guidance of revenue growth in a range of 20-25% and an adjusted EBIT margin in the range of 5.0-6.0%.

Co-CEO Rubin Ritter said: “We continue to successfully execute towards our goals and started 2017 with strong growth momentum. We are fully on track with our long-term aspirations and keep expanding our business at high speed, while investing into our consumer experience and brand partner proposition.”

All figures reported herein are preliminary, full financial disclosure for the first quarter 2017 will be published on May 9, 2017.

On April 20, 2017, Zalando will publish the agenda for its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) held on May 31, 2017. In accordance with the recommendation of its nomination committee, the Supervisory Board proposes Shanna Prevé and Dominik Asam for election to the Supervisory Board at the AGM, as Lorenzo Grabau and Kai-Uwe Ricke will not seek re-election.

Ms. Prevé is Managing Director Business Development for the Google Consumer Hardware Group in San Francisco, USA, and Mr. Asam is Chief Financial Officer at the DAX-listed technology company Infineon Technologies AG. Both bring relevant industry experience and are expected to add beneficial expertise to the work of the Supervisory Board. Dominik Asam is designated to take over chairmanship of the audit committee.
ABOUT ZALANDO
Zalando (https://corporate.zalando.com) is Europe’s leading online fashion platform for women, men and children. We offer our customers a one-stop, convenient shopping experience with an extensive selection of fashion articles including shoes, apparel and accessories, with free delivery and returns. Our assortment of over 1,500 international brands ranges from popular global brands, fast fashion and local brands, and is complemented by our private label products. Our localized offering addresses the distinct preferences of our customers in each of the 15 European markets we serve: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland and the United Kingdom. Our logistics network with four centrally located fulfillment centers in Germany allows us to efficiently serve our customers throughout Europe, supported by a warehouse in Northern Italy with a focus on local customer needs. We believe that our integration of fashion, operations and online technology give us the capability to deliver a compelling value proposition to both our customers and fashion brand partners. Zalando’s shops attract over 160 million visits per month. In the fourth quarter of 2016, more than 68 percent of traffic came from mobile devices, resulting in 19.9 million active customers by the end of the quarter.

SOURCE: Zalando

CONTACT
René Gribnitz / Vice President Communications
rene.gribnitz@zalando.de

Alexander Styles / Financial Communications
alexander.styles@zalando.de
+49 30 20968 2022

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

SPAR UK expands its own label wine offering with two new Proseccos

SPAR Proseccos DOC Extra Dry

SPAR UK is increasing its own label wine offering with the launch of two new Proseccos.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — SPAR Brand wine continues to go from strength to strength and the new lines, sourced from an award winning producer in the Veneto region of Italy, show its commitment to giving shoppers a greater choice of tasty fizz at excellent value.

The new lines consist of a SPAR Extra Dry DOC Prosecco and SPAR Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco.

The Extra Dry DOC is a deliciously smooth, affordable treat for those nights in and every day celebrations, whilst the Valdobbiadene DOCG is a premium bottle to compete with the very best sparkling wines in the market. This beautifully presented bottle offers exquisite taste and quality and is perfect for special occasions or gifting.

Commenting on the new lines, Edward Evans, SPAR UK Head of BWS said: “At SPAR we are determined to give our shoppers the best choice available in the market and our improved Prosecco range reflects this. UK Prosecco sales are predicted to increase considerably over the next five years, and it is vital that our customers feel that SPAR can offer them an improved range to satisfy their varying tastes across all price-points. We are delighted with the two new additions and look forward to hearing what our shoppers think.”

SPAR Extra Dry DOC Prosecco and SPAR Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco are now available in SPAR stores in England, Scotland and Wales.

SOURCE: SPAR International

SPAR International
info@spar-international.com
+3120 626 6749

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Signet Jewelers appoints former federal Judge Barbara S. Jones to conduct review of its workplace policies and practices

HAMILTON, Bermuda, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Signet Jewelers Limited (“Signet”) (NYSE:SIG), the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry, announced today that its new Board Committee focused on Respect in the Workplace has appointed former federal Judge Barbara S. Jones, a partner at Bracewell LLP, to conduct a thorough review of the company’s policies and practices regarding equal opportunity and workplace expectations. The company first announced plans to commission the review last month during an earnings call.

“Judge Barbara Jones’ integrity is impeccable. She and her team have had a distinguished career in matters relating to workplace compliance issues and she will bring that experience to the company as she conducts a review of company policy and practices,” said Helen McCluskey, Signet Director and Chair of the committee. “Judge Jones will help us ensure our programs are functioning as intended and to identify areas where we can further improve.”

Judge Jones previously served a 16-year term in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, presiding over a wide range of cases. Prior to her U.S. District Judge nomination in 1995 by President Bill Clinton, she served as Chief Assistant to Robert M. Morgenthau, then-District Attorney of New York County. Along with workplace compliance issues, she has focused on corporate monitorships, internal investigations, arbitrations and mediations since leaving the bench.

About Signet Jewelers:
Signet Jewelers Limited is the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry. Signet operates approximately 3,600 stores primarily under the name brands of Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, H.Samuel, Ernest Jones, Peoples and Piercing Pagoda. Further information on Signet is available at www.signetjewelers.com. See also www.kay.com, www.zales.com, www.jared.com, www.hsamuel.co.uk, www.ernestjones.co.uk, www.peoplesjewellers.com and www.pagoda.com.

Source: Signet Jewelers Limited

Signet Jewelers

Investors: James Grant, VP Investor Relations, 1 330-668-5412

Media: David Bouffard, VP Corporate Affairs, 1 330-668-5369

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editors

Kohl’s released its 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis., 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) released its 2016 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, outlining the strides the company has made to fulfill its purpose to inspire and empower families to lead fulfilled lives. Through continued action that positively impacts the community, its more than 140,000 associates and the environment, Kohl’s is making a difference for families today and for generations to come.

“At Kohl’s, we believe the right way to deliver on our purpose is to serve our customers and communities in accordance with our values – put customers first, act with integrity, build great teams and drive results – values our associates embody every day,” said Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman, chief executive officer and president. “I am proud of our CSR accomplishments in 2016 and look forward to our continued work on these initiatives.”

Below are highlights from Kohl’s 2016 CSR Report. An infographic featuring report highlights and the entire 2016 CSR Report are available on Corporate.Kohls.com.

Taking Care of Our Communities
Kohl’s is passionate about creating stronger, healthier communities where customers and associates live, work and play. In 2016, Kohl’s and Kohl’s Cares gave more than $51 million to support the causes that matter to associates and customers in communities across the country.

Kohl’s Volunteer Program: Associate volunteer efforts resulted in approximately $24 million in grants to nonprofit organizations nationwide – the highest giving total in the program’s history. From New York City to Milpitas, Calif., and countless cities in between, Kohl’s associates volunteered nearly half a million hours of their time to benefit more than 9,000 nonprofits nationwide.
Kohl’s Cares Cause Merchandise: With favorite collections like Clifford the Big Red Dog and Curious George, the Kohl’s Cares cause merchandise program, features kid friendly merchandise customers love and can feel good about – because 100 percent of the net profit benefits youth-focused causes. To date, Kohl’s has raised more than $317 million through the program, including nearly $23 million in 2016.
Kohl’s Cares Hospital Partner Program: As part of our commitment to children’s health, Kohl’s donated more than $14 million to hospital partners in communities from coast to coast to create local outreach programs such as injury prevention and healthy eating.

Supporting Our Associates
Kohl’s has a deep responsibility to its associates and is focused on creating a culture of appreciation, inclusion transparency and engagement. Associates are empowered to bring their authentic selves to work each day, enhancing the richness of experiences, perspectives, thoughts and ideas, while fostering engagement and innovation

Associate Wellness Centers: In 2016, Kohl’s more than doubled the number of on-site Wellness Centers for associates, expanding to 13 locations from six, with more on the way. The centers, staffed by a range of medical professionals, support overall well-being and offer associates and their families access to health care services tailored to their specific needs.
Recognizing Greatness: Kohl’s associates are encouraged to celebrate successes, both big and small, from everyday contributions to major achievements, and important personal life events. Kohl’s online and mobile tool enabled associates to send more than 500,000 e-recognitions to their colleagues.
Town Halls with Kevin Mansell: Associates across the company had the opportunity to connect with and ask questions of Kevin Mansell, Kohl’s chairman, chief executive officer and president, in his Town Hall meetings. Associates heard directly from Mansell on topics ranging from benefits to company strategy, industry trends, and requests for career and leadership advice.
Business Resource Groups: Kohl’s Business Resource Groups (BRGs) help associates achieve professional and personal success while furthering business objectives and maximizing engagement. In 2016, the Millennial, Hispanic Professionals, Veterans and #PrideAtKohls BRGs led activities, including, an increase in Veteran hiring and the launch of a pilot program to offer new gift cards to Hispanic shoppers, among other efforts.

Leaving a Smaller Footprint
Kohl’s is committed to protecting and conserving the environment by seeking solutions that encourage long-term sustainability. The steps Kohl’s takes – both big and small – ensures the environment is preserved for the families of tomorrow.

2017 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award: Kohl’s has been recognized with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2017 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award, marking the sixth consecutive recognition for the company’s continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency achievements.
Solar Arrays: Kohl’s encourages the use of renewable and more sustainable sources of energy. With 163 solar arrays at locations across the country, Kohl’s is one of the largest hosts of solar electricity in North America.
Plastic Bag Recycling: In an effort to reduce waste, Kohl’s reuses and recycles materials whenever possible. Last year alone, the company recycled more than 7 million pounds of plastic. Kohl’s shopping bags are also made out of recycled plastic – resulting in the signature gray colored bag customers receive when they shop the store.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: Customers and associates with electric vehicles can charge their vehicle for free via charging units at 90 Kohl’s locations nationwide. Interested individuals can simply pick up a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) card at the customer service desk and charge while they shop.

About Kohl’s
Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is a leading omnichannel retailer with more than 1,100 stores in 49 states. With a commitment to inspiring and empowering families to lead fulfilled lives, Kohl’s offers amazing national and exclusive brands, incredible savings and an easy shopping experience in our stores, online at Kohls.com and on Kohl’s mobile app. Throughout its history, Kohl’s has given nearly $600 million to support communities nationwide. For a list of store locations or to shop online, visit Kohls.com. For more information about Kohl’s impact in the community and how to join our winning team, visit Corporate.Kohls.com.

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SOURCE: Kohl’s Illinois, Inc.,

Contact: Jen Johnson, 262.703.5241, jen.johnson@kohls.com
Ale DesJean, 262.703.5186, ale.desjean@kohls.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by USN Retail Editor

METRIC USA RELEASES LATEST INNOVATIVE PRODUCT JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER: COLLAPSIBLE INSULATING BEER CAN SLEEVES

CULVER CITY, CA, USA, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Metric USA, a full-service, family-owned and operated company specializing in designing, developing, and producing a wide range of products that embody good design, simplicity, and beauty, announced they have officially released their latest revolutionary product, Collapsible Beer Can Sleeves, just in time for summer cookouts and hangouts.

Developed to provide comfort and convenience for keeping beer cans cool and drinker’s hands dry, the beer sleeves’ inner dimension of 2.6” and 4” in height can hold 12 oz. cans or stumpy bottles with perfect grip.

“We’ve designed the sleeves to be collapsible so they are easily folded and taken along with consumers for ice cold beers anywhere, at any time,” said Rita Haft, Founder and Owner of Metric USA. “Plus, we’ve taken special care to make sure they are eye-catching in nature, and will complement any setting perfectly.”

The beer sleeves are equipped with a reversible, double-sided design. They are made from innovative material known as metric 66 for better insulation, which prevents hands from freezing and drinks cold. Additionally, they come with sturdy, stretchy handles to assist in holding the sleeve.

The sleeves come in 6-pack and 2-pack options, with various color options for adding a touch of personalization to the drinking experience. Not only for beer cans, but Metric USA can sleeves are ideal to use on 12 Oz. soda cans as well to keep them chilled much longer.

“These sleeves are durable, firmly grip, insulate, and protect beer cans throughout the entire 2017 summer and many summers to come,” said John Grant, a satisfied customer. “Warm sodas and beers are a thing of the past when investing in this convenient product. Spread the word about our latest product, and head on over to Amazon today to purchase one of these must have summer accessories.”

To purchase or get additional information on our must have can sleeves, you can see both the 2-pack and 6-pack options, at: https://www.amazon.com//dp/B06Y42GLWW

To check out Metric Products’ social media accounts, visit: https://shopmetricusa.com

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb1KcskM2BRi6zA8ltSjbQA

Contact: Katie Smith

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editor

CBRE celebrates successful client outcomes with “Client Advantage” advertising program

Ads Highlight Client Success Stories

Los Angeles, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — CBRE has launched “Client Advantage”, a digital, social and print advertising program which celebrates successful client outcomes. The ads will be featured in outlets around the world including the Financial Times, Les Echos, GlobeSt, Real Estate Alert and The Commercial Observer.

The case-study-focused campaign features stories of how CBRE professionals collaborate to create advantages for leading companies such as Jaguar Range Rover, Sprint and Alibaba as well as iconic properties including Hollywood’s Rodeo Drive, The Tower of London and Shanghai Tower.

“This campaign continues the trajectory of our brand strategy by celebrating our clients’ successes, our people, and our relentless focus on delivering distinct advantages for everyone we serve,” said Paul Suchman, Global Chief Marketing Officer, CBRE. “Our clients are at the heart of everything we do, and the stories we are telling through this new work stand as tangible evidence of that commitment.”

The campaign also features in-depth client case studies supported by informative videos, which are showcased in a special section of the company’s website at CBRE.com.

About CBRE Group, Inc.
CBRE Group, Inc. (NYSE:CBG), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles, is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (based on 2016 revenue). The company has more than 75,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate investors and occupiers through approximately 450 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. CBRE offers a broad range of integrated services, including facilities, transaction and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. Please visit our website at www.cbre.com.

SOURCE: CBRE Group, Inc.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Robert McGrath
212.984.8267
robert.mcgrath@cbre.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editor

Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee varieties now available on board Amtrak Acela Express

Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee varieties now available on board Amtrak Acela Express

Dunkin’ Donuts Original Blend and Dunkin’ Decaf® Hot Coffees Available on Amtrak’s Acela Express^®High-Speed Trains Beginning Today

CANTON, MA and WASHINGTON, DC , 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Dunkin’ Donuts and Amtrak today announced that Dunkin’ Donuts Original Blend and Dunkin’ Decaf hot coffee varieties are now available on board Amtrak Acela Express high-speed trains throughout the Northeast Corridor.

With the new agreement, Dunkin’ Donuts’ signature hot coffee is now available to the 3.4 million customers who ride Acela Express trains each year. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee will be served all day in First Class and Café Acela, and will be brewed using the same equipment featured in Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants to ensure the same high quality and great taste enjoyed by millions of Dunkin’ guests each and every day.

Dunkin’ Donuts has an established presence at locations geared toward serving travelers, with restaurants at airports and train stations throughout the country. According to Chris Fuqua, Senior Vice President, Dunkin’ Donuts Brand Marketing, Global Consumer Insights & Product Innovation, “Both Amtrak and Dunkin’ Donuts share a long heritage of serving on-the-go Americans, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to help keep Acela Express passengers energized with Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee whenever and wherever they are traveling. As the brand that keeps America running, we are excited that Acela Express now runs on Dunkin’.”

According to Thomas Hall, Amtrak Vice President, Passenger Experience, “Amtrak takes pride in enriching the customer experience with premium services and brands, and offering Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee aboard all of our Acela Express trains is just the latest example of this on-going commitment. No matter where our customers are traveling, providing a high-quality coffee experience on board is another reason why Amtrak is the smarter way to travel.”

Acela Express is the premium service on the nation’s busiest passenger rail corridor, offering hourly service between New York City, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and other intermediate cities, as well as many convenient round-trips between New York City and Boston. Acela Express customers enjoy more legroom, spacious seats, and – recently announced – Wi-Fi speeds up to six times faster, for more reliable connectivity at no extra charge. Amtrak’s Acela Express has led a significant growth in revenue and market share in the Northeast, increasing from 2.4 million customers in Fiscal Year 2002 to 3.4 million customers in Fiscal Year 2016.

Later this year, Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffees are scheduled to be served aboard Amtrak’s Northeast Regional trains that operate throughout the Northeast Corridor.

To learn more about Dunkin’ Donuts, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com, or subscribe to the Dunkin’ Donuts blog to receive notifications at https://news.dunkindonuts.com/blog.

About Dunkin’ Donuts
Founded in 1950, Dunkin’ Donuts is America’s favorite all-day, everyday stop for coffee and baked goods. Dunkin’ Donuts is a market leader in the hot regular/decaf/flavored coffee, iced coffee, donut, bagel and muffin categories. Dunkin’ Donuts has earned a No. 1 ranking for customer loyalty in the coffee category by Brand Keys for 11 years running. The company has more than 12,200 restaurants in 45 countries worldwide. Based in Canton, Mass., Dunkin’ Donuts is part of the Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNKN) family of companies. For more information, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com.

About Amtrak®
Amtrak – America’s Railroad® – is dedicated to safe and reliable mobility as the nation’s intercity passenger rail service provider and its high-speed rail operator. With our state and commuter partners, we move people, the economy and the nation forward, carrying more than 30 million Amtrak passengers for each of the past six years. Formally known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak is governed by a 10-member board of directors, nine of whom are appointed by the President of the United States plus the Amtrak CEO. Anthony R. Coscia is board chairman and Jeffrey R. Moreland is vice chairman. Amtrak operates more than 300 trains daily – at speeds up to 150 mph (241 kph) – connecting more than 500 destinations in 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces. Learn more at Amtrak.com or call 800-USA-RAIL for schedules, fares and other information. Check us out at blog.Amtrak.com , Like us on Facebook.com and Follow us on Twitter @Amtrak.

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SOURCE: Dunkin Donuts

Media Contacts:

Lindsay Cronin
Dunkin’ Brands
781-737-5200
Lindsay.Cronin@dunkinbrands.com

Chelsea Kopta
Amtrak
202-906-3730
Chelsea.Kopta@Amtrak.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editor

Barnes & Noble hosts Gaming events at select stores nationwide on Saturday, April 29

Select Barnes & Noble Stores Nationwide are Inviting Customers to Come Together and Socialize Around Tabletop Gaming with Special Demos, Giveaways and More

Featured Games 20% Off at Participating Stores, with an Additional 10% Off for Barnes & Noble Members

New York, New York, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the nation’s largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced that Barnes & Noble will host Gaming gatherings at select stores nationwide on Saturday, April 29, starting at 6 p.m. This is part of an ongoing series of Gaming events that will take place at these stores. Fans of tabletop games are encouraged to visit their nearest, participating Barnes & Noble store to play featured games and browse the impressive selection of Strategy, Classic, Family, Party, and Mind Memory & Logic games. Customers should contact their local Barnes & Noble or visit the Barnes & Noble Store Locator to see which of the over 200 stores nationwide will be hosting Gaming events.

Plus, at participating Barnes & Noble stores nationwide on April 29 and 30, featured games will be available at 20% off, with an additional 10% off for Barnes & Noble Members (in-store only). Featured games include Quartz, Kodama, Potion Explosion, You Gotta Be Kitten Me, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, and New York, 1901. Giveaways, available while supplies last, will include One Night Ultimate Werewolf Bonus Packs and Dark Kodama promo cards.

“Barnes & Noble prides itself on being a warm and inviting meeting place where people can gather together to celebrate great content. Whether that’s found in the quality of our bookshelves, or in the creativity engagement of our board games, we are happy to host and put a spotlight on original content through special events in our stores.” said Kathleen Campisano, Vice President of Toys & Games at Barnes & Noble.

The theme of this year’s International Tabletop Day is, “Tell us how board games changed your life,” as they serve as a powerful force to unite different groups of people, whether it be friends, families or unfamiliar faces, while they participate in a shared experience. During its Gaming gatherings, Barnes & Noble will encourage participants to submit a video to the International Tabletop Day page and tell the world how board games have impacted their lives, using the hashtags #tabletopday and #BNGameNight.

“Barnes & Noble stores provide the perfect environment to welcome new and seasoned gamers as they experience the depth of gameplay,” said Andrew Lupp of the gaming industry organization PSI. “Barnes & Noble is committed to promoting the socialization of game groups, this year marking the third year it is hosting a gaming meetup at its stores.”

Barnes & Noble features over 1,000 games in stores, with even more online so customers of all ages, interests and preferences in game mechanics can find that special board game to either gift or bring home to host their own game night.

Customers are encouraged to browse Barnes & Noble’s vast selection of quality games and provide feedback to the participating stores on future Gaming event game titles. Barnes & Noble features the latest releases like Potion Explosion, Seafall and Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu, along with exclusives like Munchkin Apocalypse: Guest Artist Edition and FunEmployed: Hiring Frenzy, which can only be found at Barnes & Noble.

About Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is a Fortune 500 company, the nation’s largest retail bookseller, and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 634 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s premier e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). The Nook Digital business offers a lineup of popular NOOK^® tablets and eReaders and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store^®. The NOOK Store features more than 4.5 million digital books in the US (www.nook.com), plus periodicals and comics, and offers the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through Free NOOK Reading Apps^™ available for Android^™, iOS^® and Windows^®.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained by visiting the Company’s corporate website at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

Barnes & Noble^®, Barnes & Noble Booksellers^® and Barnes & Noble.com^® are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. or its affiliates. NOOK^® and the NOOK logos are trademarks of Nook Digital, LLC or its affiliates.

For more information on Barnes & Noble, follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat (bnsnaps), and like us on Facebook. For more information on NOOK, follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

SOURCE: Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Contacts:

Mary Ellen Keating
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(212) 633-3323
mkeating@bn.com

Alan McNamara
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(212) 633-3379
amcnamara@bn.com

Posted on April 20, 2017 by EPR Retail News Editor

Tesco sells its opticians business in the UK and Republic of Ireland to Vision Express

Tesco today announces the sale of its opticians business in the UK and Republic of Ireland to Vision Express in a move to further simplify its business and serve its shoppers better.

CHESHUNT, England, 2017-Apr-20 — /EPR Retail News/ — Tesco Opticians currently operates in 206 stores across the UK and three stores in the Republic of Ireland, as well as online. It employs approximately 1,500 colleagues, all of whom will be covered by TUPE legislation to transfer into Vision Express following a consultation process.

The disposal is subject to regulatory approval by the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK.

Commenting on the disposal, Matt Davies UK and ROI CEO, said:

“This allows us to further simplify and strengthen our UK business and ensures our customers are still able to enjoy high quality eye care services from Vision Express in our larger stores. Our priority now is to work with our colleagues and support them through this change.”

SOURCE: Tesco

For more information please contact the Tesco Press Office on 01707 918 701