Lowe's Spring and Summer Growth Includes Expansion in Canada

Lowe’s Canada announced plans to hire 2,000 seasonal employees at its existing 37 Canadian stores for the Spring and Summer season. The company will hold its first ever Canadian National Hiring Day on March 7 at all of their stores.

Lowe’s previously announced it will be opening 25 new stores in Canada over the next three years, including stores in Lethbridge, Saskatoon and Sault Ste. Mari. These three cities have Target stores, who announced January 15 that it will be closing. This is raising speculation that Lowe’s could buy those Target locations, but Lowe’s has not confirmed it will use current Target locations as sites for their future new stores.

Lowe’s also is set to hire 30,000 seasonal employees in the U.S.

Source: Retailing Today

J.C. Penney Stock Soars 20% with High Year-End Sales Growth

Although analysts had projected retail growth in December to average 2.7%, J.C. Penney reports that sales rose 3.7% for the last 9 weeks leading up to the end of December. That compares to 3.1% growth for the same time period last year.

Last year at this time, Penney did not disclose sales results, which drove the stock down and raised investors’ concerns about the company’s turnaround efforts after failed changes in sales strategy. This included removing discounts and popular house brands.

“Our highest priority over the last year has been to restore profitable sales growth at J.C. Penney,” Chief Executive Myron E. Ullman said. “This holiday season was instrumental in that effort.”

The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects this holiday season to boast the strongest sales growth since 2011. J.C. Penney is the first large retailer to report holiday season sales.