Sales of Adult Fiction Books Stay on Fire (publishersweekly.com)

Gap Inc. and NEXT Plc announced the opening of the first Gap-branded shop-in-shop within NEXT’s largest West End store on London’s Oxford Street, marking the first milestone of the joint venture franchise relationship between the two companies to manage Gap’s e-commerce business as well as Gap-branded shop-in-shops at NEXT locations. The location in central London cements Gap’s physical return to the British high street. As the largest brand shop within the store, covering over 4,000 square feet of retail space, the Gap store embodies the brand’s reinvented approach to retail in the UK with an open, modern and minimal design. Customers can shop curated collections of elevated everyday essentials including denim, fleece, khakis, shirting and iconic logo product for women, men and kids. A customization shop offering embroidery, badging and monogramming will also be available to all Gap customers.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has received authorization from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, in Corpus Christi, Texas (the “Court”) to access its debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing, which includes $450 million of new money from its existing First Lien lenders. The Company had previously received approval to access and use its approximately $500 million in cash collateral. Under the terms of the DIP agreement, JCPenney has access to up to $225 million immediately, and will have access to an additional $225 million as needed after July 15, 2020, subject to certain conditions. In addition, the Company’s Ad Hoc Crossholder Group of lenders has agreed to participate in the rollup portion of the DIP in the amount of $53 million. Jill Soltau, chief executive officer of JCPenney, said, “We are pleased to have received Court approval to access $450 million in new money, $225 million of which will be drawn immediately. This is a positive step forward that will help us execute our Plan for Renewal and store optimization strategy, continue working seamlessly with our vendor partners, fund our ongoing business operations, and continue our focus on further developing the Company’s go-forward business plan to successfully restructure JCPenney. In recent weeks, we have safely welcomed back valued customers to nearly 500 JCPenney stores, and we look forward to opening additional stores while following guidance from local and state orders. This progress would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of our associates, and we remain confident we will emerge from both Chapter 11 and this pandemic as a stronger retailer.”

Walgreens announced this week that it has joined a groundbreaking consortium that aims to reinvent the single-use plastic retail bag. Teaming up with other major retailers and with non-profit organizations in the Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, Walgreens is committed to being part of the solution to the waste and recycling issues associated with the use of more than 100 billion retail plastic bags every year in the U.S. The goal of the Beyond the Bag initiative is to identify, test and implement viable design solutions and models that more sustainably serve the purpose of the current retail bag. Current alternatives to the plastic retail bag have yet to garner industry-wide support or widespread use by the public and many still have significant environmental impacts.