A customer walks through an aisle of artificial Christmas trees in a Walmart store. Courtesy of Walmart
By Retail Dive Staff
Source: www.retaildive.com, September 2024
Major retailers are rolling out early holidays sales events, while the DTC scrubs brand continues to build out its physical footprint.
It’s been another week with far more retail news than there is time in the day. Below, we break down some things you may have missed during the week and what we’re still thinking about.
From the U.S. Postal Service’s partnership with Toys R Us to Chewy’s adorable holiday countdown for pets, here’s our closeout for the week.
What you may have missed
Post Service partners with Toys R Us to help St. Nick
The U.S. Postal service is partnering with Toys R Us to expand Operation Santa.
The Post Office has accepted letters to Santa from kids and families for over a century. The letters are anonymously made available through a website where individuals or organizations can read them and fulfill someone’s holiday wish. Toys R Us is offering a curated e-commerce site to make gifting through the program easier.
“[We] are making it easier for individuals and families to spread joy to children in need and make their holiday dreams come true,” said Toys R Us E-commerce Vice President Gary Haas.
Also this year, participants have the option to send gifts using the Postal Service’s newest shipping offering, USPS Ground Advantage, which offers nationwide delivery times ranging from two to five business days.
Office Depot adds Hallmark cards, accessories
Office Depot is adding an assortment of Hallmark products to its party supply offering, the company said in a Monday announcement. The product offering will include greeting cards for all occasions; gift wrap and accessories; notepads, notecards, and journals; and partyware and decorations.
“With Hallmark’s renowned occasions assortment, combined with Office Depot’s capability to custom print products through our copy and print centers, we are uniquely positioned to be the go-to destination for all of life’s special moments,” Andrew Tomlin, vice president of print and business services at Office Depot, said in a statement
Office Depot has also recently started partnerships with the TSA to offer PreCheck enrollment in collaboration with Telos; an expanded college dorm and school supply offering from Dormify; and PowerUp, a program in partnership with Dun & Bradstreet to offer business owners marketing, data and advertising services.
Figs opens second store
DTC scrubs brand Figs opened its second store in Philadelphia on Sept. 19, per a press release. The Rittenhouse Community Hub on Walnut Street hosts an embroidery workshop, shopping experience, lounge and café. The company said it is approximately four times larger than its first brick-and-mortar location in Los Angeles.
The location for the latest retail experience is within two miles of five healthcare institutions, per the company. Figs’ community hubs were made to “reimagine the retail experience by providing healthcare professionals the opportunity to shop for their apparel in a way that never previously existed,” per the brand.
Figs plans to expand on this strategy with more community hub openings set for 2025. Recently, the healthcare apparel brand named a former Lulu exec as its chief financial officer.
