The offices of Chain Store Age will be closed on Monday, Sept. 4, for Labor Day. We will resume publishing on Sept. 5.

The CSA team wishes you and your family a happy and safe holiday weekend.

A strong performance outside of the U.S. gave a boost to Costco Wholesale Corp.’s same-store sales in August. 

The company reported that its net sales rose 5% to $18.42 billion for the four weeks ended Aug. 27, up from $17.55 billion in August 2022.

Total company comparable  sales rose 3.4%,  but e-commerce sales fell 2.5%.  

Comp sales rose 2.8% in the U.S. and 3% in Canada. International comps rose 7.3%. 

Total comparable sales excluding the impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange rose 4.1%. Comp sales rose 3.2% in the U.S. and 7.5% in Canada.  International comps rose 5.4%.

Costco currently operates 861 warehouses, including 591 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 33 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, five in China, four in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

TJX Cos. continues to expand its Canadian home furnishings banner southward in the United States.

The brand, which has 154 stores in Canada and 79 in Europe, recently opened four new stores, including two locations in Florida  (Sawgrass Mills Mall, Sunrise; and The Shoppes at New Tampa, Tampa) and  two in North Carolina (Afton Ridge, Concord; and The Shops at the Fresh Market, Cornelius).  Homesense has 51 U.S. locations. 

Homesense stores features a wide array of furniture, a rug emporium, a wall art and mirror gallery, an extensive lighting department that includes chandeliers, and a general store section with project supplies. 

Customers can also shop for seasonal items, including décor and entertaining essentials. 

As of July 29, 2023, TJX  operated a total of 4,884 stores in nine countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Australia, and seven e-commerce sites. These include 1,305 T.J. Maxx, 1,190 Marshalls, 907 HomeGoods, 83 Sierra, and 49 Homesense stores in the United States; 299 Winners, 154 HomeSense, and 106 Marshalls stores in Canada; 636 T.K. Maxx and 79 Homesense stores in Europe; and 76 T.K. Maxx stores in Australia. 

A longtime executive at Genesco Inc. is departing.

The footwear giant announced the planned retirement of Mario Gallione, president of Journeys Group, at the end of the company’s fiscal year, with an expected effective date of February 2024. Gallione, who has has worked at Genesco for 44 years, has served in his current position for six years. 

Genesco has started a search process to identify Gallione’s successor with the assistance of executive leadership firm Egon Zehnder. During the transition, Gallione will become Journeys’ president emeritus. 

“He [Gallione] has been part of the team since the beginning and has been instrumental in building Journeys into the leading teen fashion footwear retailer,”  said Genesco Board chair, president and CEO Mimi E. Vaughn.  “Mario’s merchant leadership and exceptional footwear expertise have been a significant part of Journeys’ long-term growth, record success and value creation. “Beyond Mario’s entrepreneurial strengths, his distinct desire to develop a world class organization with a strong foundation of culture and talent will define his legacy.”

In addition, Mike Sypert has been named Journeys’ COO,  responsible for aiding the transition of leadership as well as assuming day-to-day responsibilities for Journeys, Journeys Kidz and Little Burgundy’s business, including stores and websites in the U.S. and Canada.  Sypert is a 34-year company veteran who most recently served as Journeys executive VP of sales and retail operations.

In a statement, Gallione said it has been “an honor to work with the extraordinary team at Journeys and Genesco.”

“As I look back, especially over the past six years as president, I am incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished including successfully expanding our digital transformation enabling us to serve our customers with the right products in the ways our teens want to shop, as well as successfully managing through an unprecedented pandemic,” he added. “Our outstanding people have created the industry-leading teen footwear retail brand that is now serving its fourth generation. I am excited to help execute a seamless transition and see how this team takes Journeys to the next level.”

Based in Nashville, Genesco Inc. operates approximately 1,400 retail stores and branded e-commerce websites. Its Journeys, Little Burgundy and Schuh brands serve teens, kids and young adults with on-trend fashion footwear. Johnston & Murphy serves the successful, affluent man and woman with premium footwear, apparel and accessories in the U.S. and Canada, and Genesco Brands Group sells branded lifestyle footwear to leading retailers under licensed brands including Levi’s, Dockers and G.H. Bass.

Rally House had a busy August, opening 16 locations during the dog days of summer.

The Kansas-based,  family-owned specialty sports retailer opened five new stores during the weekend of Aug. 26. Four of the stores were in new markets, including Pennsylvania (Chambersburg Crossing, Chambersburg); Kentucky (Hamburg Pavilion, Lexington); Texas (Cumberland Park, Tyler); and  and Tempe, Arizona (Tempe Marketplace).  The fifth was at L Street Marketplace, in Omaha, Neb.

August has been a month of expansion  for Rally House, which started the month by opening seven stores in one weekend. (See list at end of article.)

Rally House stores feature products from national brands such as New Era, Mitchell & Ness, Nike, Adidas and others along with localized assortments of popular colleges and pro teams.

 No two Rally Stores are identical. They each carry merchandise customized and tailored to the specific collegiate and professional teams in that area. In additional to team apparel, Rally House offers a wide selection of local styles and its own exclusive line of branded merchandise.

"Rally House is excited to continue amplifying its presence across the country with another remarkable number of new stores in one weekend," CEO Aaron Liebert describes. "We're proud to be the trusted sports and merchandise retailer for dedicated fans everywhere, and it's all possible because of the hard work of our team members and incredible customers."

Here are the seven locations that Rally House opened earlier this month.

Baytowne Square, Champaign, Ill.;

Fox Valley Mall, Aurora, Ill.;

St. Clair Square, Fairview Heights, Ill.;

Coralville, Iowa;

Manhattan, Kan.;

Sooner Mall, Norman, Okla.; and

Arizona Mills, Tempe, Ariz.

Based in Lenexa, Kan., Rally House operates more than 170 locations across 17 states.

A  family-owned convenience store chain that was founded 63 years ago has been acquired. 

Maverik – Adventure’s First Stop, together with its parent company, FJ Management, has completed the acquisition of Kum & Go and Solar Transport from Krause Group. The closing of the deal, which was announced in April, creates a c-store network across the Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, growing Maverik’s footprint to over 800 stores in 20 states with approximately 14,000 employees.

Chuck Maggelet, CEO of Maverick, will lead the newly combined organization. Tanner Krause, who has served for six years as president and CEO of Kum & Go., will transition out of the company.  

“Together over four generations — from my grandfather Tony and my dad Bill to me and my son Tanner — we built these businesses over 64 years through shared vision, collective entrepreneurship, and teamwork,” said Kyle Krause, founder and CEO, Krause Group. “We’ve run the businesses and differentiated ourselves by putting people first and making days better in all we do. Over the last six years, Tanner’s leadership was at the core of these efforts, resulting in a tremendous impact on Kum & Go. I’m confident Kum & Go and Solar Transport are set up for future success with Maverik.”

In appreciation of Maverik’s Des Moines based team and the local community, Maverik will donate $50,000 to The Des Moines Public Schools Foundation. As a longstanding supporter of helping fight hunger in its local communities, Maverik’s donation will provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and toiletries at Des Moines Public Schools 53 food pantries in schools across the district.