Check Out home-related retailers Sears Holdings and Williams-Sonoma reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Does this mean consumers are feathering their nests again?

Somewhat, according to Barclays analyst Michael Lasser, who said Williams-Sonoma’s results were “an indication that upper-income consumers are spending a bit more, which is not surprising given the rally in the stock market and the stabilization in the housing market.”

Williams-Sonoma, which also operates Pottery Barn and West Elm, has updated its styles and slashed prices on some items to woo shoppers, despite worries that the move might tarnish its image as a high-end retailer.

But it’s not only high-end chains showing signs of life. Kmart, the value-priced retailer that sells everything from appliances to clothing, posted its first increase in same-store sales since 2005, and only its second since 2001. The chain, which is owned by Sears, took back its shoe operations this year from Footstar, which had operated within Kmart stores.

Even Sears, which depends more heavily on the housing market due to its Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances, posted its best performance since the fourth quarter of 2007, and outperformed competing home improvement chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s.

Also in the basket:  

Average UK woman wears 515 chemicals a day

New York & Co sees trends to better in holiday qtr

Ross Stores Q3 profit in line, maintains Q4 view

Gamestop third-qtr profit beats estimates

(Photo: Reuters)

Sears, the low-priced retailer known for its selection of Craftsman tools and kitchen appliances, is jumping on the beauty bandwagon.

The retailer is debuting beauty departments  — called Sears Beauty — in 13 mall locations in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Sears Beauty will sell cosmetics, skin care, bath and body products, and fragrances by brands like L’Oreal, Maybelline, and CoverGirl. The offering, Sears says, is designed to help shoppers “achieve their ideal beauty results.”

Sears isn’t alone in wanting to help shoppers put their best face forward. JC Penney has installed Sephora locations inside many of its department stores, while Wal-Mart has reached a deal to sell an exclusive line of Hard Candy makeup in its discount stores.

Retailers look at cosmetics as a way to drive consumers into their stores more frequently, because shoppers typically need to purchase a new lipstick or restock their favorite body wash more often than they need to buy a new suit or replace their ride-on lawn mower.

To mark the opening of the beauty departments, Sears is offering a free cosmetic bag and brush set with any $25 cosmetics, fragrance or bath purchase, and a $10 Sears reward card with any $50 cosmetics, fragrance, or bath purchase.

(Photo: Reuters)

Santa’s not getting any rest this year.

After U.S. retailers posted the longest running decline in same-store sales in nearly a decade, Sears, Kmart and Toys R Us announced Christmas-themed sales for the month of July.  While actual sale dates and locations vary among the three chains, the event has drawn a lot of attention from news media, which had the once-in-a-year joy of headlining a story with “Christmas in July.”

Not to be outdone, Disney has sent a train to 36 states around the country to promote its new animated film “A Christmas Carol,” slated for release this November.  Yes, November.

The re-purposed Amtrak train is filled to the brim with Disney Christmas items, the latest in cinematic 3D audio and video equipment, a lot of HP computers, and even artifacts on loan from the Charles Dickens Museum.  Oh, and it has a picture of Ebeneezer Scrooge on the front.

Whether any of these campaigns will work is anyone’s guess.  But for now, at least, it gives us all a chance to laugh and play and maybe even listen to some Bing Crosby records.

Check out the “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis Tower.” 
 

As of today, the Sears Tower will be no more, at least in the minds of the executives at the British insurance broker that now has the naming rights for the building.
 
On Thursday, the signs on the erstwhile Sears Tower will read Willis Tower instead, changing the name of what was once the tallest building in the world.
 
Sears the retailer left the tower for a new headquarters in 1991. But the Sears Tower, once the world’s tallest building, arguably remained more prominent than the retailer, which has lost ground to retailers like Home Depot and Wal-Mart.
 
“To Chicagoans this is not just a commercial building. It is a monument to who we are and the kind of city we live in,” Chicago History Museum curator John Russick said.
 
So while the signs say “Willis Tower,” the lips in Chicago are likely to keep saying “Sears Tower” for a long, long time.
 
Also in the basket:
 
CIT talks fall apart, bankruptcy looms
 
Electrolux cautious despite Q2 profit
 
Kellwood options limited if it doesn’t repay debt

Amazon sued over Kindle, claim alleges breakage

Check out the ten largest U.S. retailers.

The National Retail Federation’s STORES magazine is out with its annual ranking of the top 100 retailers.

The list shows that U.S. consumers have been focused on bargains and basic necessities, such as food and medicine.  Wal-Mart tops the lineup, followed by Kroger and Costco.  Home Depot fell from No. 2 in 2007 to the fourth spot in 2008 as many shoppers decided to cut back on costly home-improvement projects.

Home Depot, Lowe’s and Sears Holdings were the only members of the top 10 to see their revenue fall in 2008.

Some other rankings that may interest you: Amazon.com is the 19th largest retailer, ranking higher than well-known chains such as J.C. Penney, 7-Eleven and Gap.  Apple’s stores and iTunes combined hold the 40th spot, topping chains such as Nordstrom, Whole Foods and Barnes & Noble.

The companies were listed by annual revenue, which may include estimates for private or closely-held companies.  Revenue from major non-retail operations were excluded when possible.

Also in the basket:

General Mills profit tops view, outlook strong

Constellation Brands earnings beat expectations

Goldman raises Yum Brands to buy

Turf War at the Hot Dog Cart (New York Times)

(Reuters photo)

Check out the surprising profit at Sears.
 
Yes, that’s right – Sears. The department store operator that also owns Kmart. The holding company controlled by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert that was supposed to be a real estate play, before the real estate market tanked.
 
Well, Sears surprised analysts with a first-quarter profit. Margins improved and Kmart same-store sales only fell 2.1 percent, less than the 3.7 percent decline posted by rival discounter Target. (Though that was helped by Kmart including a footwear business that it had leased in the past.)
 
So the stock is trading at about $60 Friday. Is that too pricey?
 
Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter thinks it is.
 
“The stock is not cheap even if one assumes that results can be sustained, and the continued loss of market share should gradually catch up to margins,” Balter said in a research note.
 
Still, given the sentiment on Sears’ retail operations just a year or so ago, Balter does give Lampert props for improving performance and driving improved margins through better inventory management and sourcing.
 
“The investment question for the name should no longer be will Sears make it, a line of thinking that we have not subscribed to due to strong cash flow and quality balance sheet, but what is the proper value for stock?” Balter wrote.
 
For some investors, just thinking in those terms is a positive sign for Sears.
 
Also in the basket:
 
LED pumps life into flat-screen TV market
 
Gap, Aeropostale, PacSun top expectations
 
Axe body products puts its brand on Hamptons club scene (N.Y. Times)
 
Recession turns malls into ghost towns (Wall Street Journal)

(Reuters photo)

Hey guys, this isn’t your pop’s polyester.

Just in time for Father’s Day shopping, Sears will roll out a line of men’s suits made of the first high-tech fabric that blends wool with polyester spun from recycled plastic soda bottles.

The suit separates, sold under Sears’ Covington Perfect brand, will be on racks in about 500 U.S. Sears stores in May.  Price: $175 for the jacket and $75 for the pants, according to Tim Danser, vice president of marketing for Bagir Group Ltd., the Israeli manufacturer that tailors the garments for Sears’ private label.

And get this: This suit is machine washable and can be tossed in the dryer, eliminating the need for dry cleaning and upping the eco-friendly ante, Danser said.

“This isn’t the polyester of the 1970s,” Moses Cohen, sales and marketing manager for N.I. Teijin Shoji (USA), Inc., the New York arm of Teijin, the Japanese chemical company that makes the suit fabric, said during a men’s fashion briefing at the swanky Kitano Hotel on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Teijin, which developed fabrics made of recycled plastic blended with wool, viscose and cotton or with other synthetics, also partners with retailers to recycle used polyester clothing back into fabric and new clothes.

“This has a nicer hand to it,” Cohen said, running his fingers over the sleeve of his own jacket, acknowledging that “polyester still has some bad connotations” due to the quality of the “disco era” fabric of more than 30 years ago. (For devotees of the 1981 cult comedy film, “Polyester,” this is your cue: Thanks a lot, John Waters!)

“We do not use any oil,” Cohen said of the process used to turn plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, into fabric yarn.  In Japan, men’s suits from Teijin’s recycled fabrics are sold by retailer Aoki.

“We think the stars are aligned for this,” Cohen said, referring to the growing interest in green manufacturing in the United States. “It started with Al Gore and his film, ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’  We can also thank President Obama” for his emphasis on saving energy and protecting the environment.

So how did Sears, known for its Energy Star home appliances, decide to join fashion’s green front?

As Cohen recalled, Sears was the first retailer to “have the guts and the vision” to commit to the line.

“In addition to providing a handsome suit at a great price, men can feel good about their purchase, knowing they are taking a step towards helping the environment,” a Sears spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

The suits tested well in Sears stores in Boston, Chicago and the metropolitan New York area (hello, Hackensack, N.J. and Long Island) — the three top U.S. eco markets, Bagir’s Danser said.

Fun fact: It takes 25 plastic soda-pop bottles (2-liter size) to make enough polyester yarn to produce the fabric for one suit.

(Reuters photo)

Check out Sears results

Sears Holdings beat Wall Street expectations when it reported earnings this morning, helped by cost cuts, and the market sang its praises by sending shares up 8 percent. The streamlining isn’t over either, as the company controlled by Eddie Lampert announced plans to shutter another 24 stores.

We’re wondering about the exuberance of the market’s response, since the results still show marked same-store sales declines for the company’s Kmart and Sears, Roebuck stores and questions remain about whether the company can pull off a real turnaround in the future.

But maybe we should ask the short sellers. As of mid-February, 14.8 million shares of Sears Holdings –about 12 percent of its shares outstanding –were held short. That’s down about 18 percent in the past month, suggesting a decrease in bearish sentiment toward the stock.
 
Also in the basket:

Limited Brands profit falls, sees first-quarter loss

Finlay to exit department stores, cut jobs

Safeway price cut efforts hurt profits

(Photo/Reuters)

The beaten-down appliance sector got a shot in the arm on Black Friday as many consumers bought new washers for their laundry rooms, one spot survey shows.

Appliance sales, especially of washing machines and dryers, were up significantly over Thanksgiving weekend as shoppers responded to discounts, said David MacGregor, an analyst with Longbow Research.

More consumers are also buying extended warranties for these big-ticket items, he added.

MacGregor, who conducts regular surveys of appliance sellers, said 87 percent of retailer contacts indicated sales met or exceeded expectations, in some cases doubling forecasts for the weekend.

Sears, the biggest U.S. appliance retailer, benefited strongly as promotions and doorbuster offers drove Black Friday traffic. The retailer’s Black Friday deals included a Kenmore washer-dryer pair priced at $599 that normally sells for $1,199, a spokesman told Reuters.

“Based on our estimates of costs, we believe that Sears probably sold most of these heavily discounted items at or below cost and then tried to recover some margin through sales of extended warranties,” MacGregor said in a research note.

The continuing U.S. housing slump and tighter credit has hurt appliance demand. U.S. shipments of major appliances were down about 9 percent for the year to date through late October, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.

The analyst said he expects the Black Friday strength to aid Whirlpool, whose brands hold leading market share positions in most categories. Whirlpool’s shares, which have fallen 50 percent this year, were up 8 percent on Thursday.

Photo: Whirlpool

On Chicago’s State Street, I found these dinosaurs creeping up on a Christmas tree at the FAO Schwarz section inside Macy’s:

Moving on to an empty TV section in Sears:

At Sears, Christmas decorations were already 60 percent off:

And at Charlotte Russe, more discounts: