J.C. Penney has hired former Levi Strauss & Co. executive Marc Rosen as its new CEO, succeeding Stanley Shashoua, who has served as interim CEO since January after the department store retailer was acquired by Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management. Rosen, whose resume also includes a 14-year stint at Walmart in a variety of roles, will take the new post next week.

Retail sales in November and December will soar between 8.5% and 10.5% this year, for total holiday sales between $843.4 billion and $859 billion, NRF said Wednesday. Supply chain issues and labor shortages will be challenging, but retailers have planned ahead for this and consumers have taken it into account and are starting their holiday shopping in October, NRF President and CEO Matt Shay said.

Sam's Club's approximately 600 stores have been fully staffed for the past three months, even in the midst of a tight labor market, CEO Kathryn McLay said. The Walmart-owned retailer's $15-per-hour minimum wage and $17.30-per-hour average wage, along with clear paths to careers in areas like cake decorating and forklift driving, have kept staffers loyal, McLay said.

Neiman Marcus reported a 6% increase in sales in the quarter ending July 30, compared to the same period in 2019, and inventory levels were down 21%, spurring more full-price sales. "We expect that the social calendar and travel calendar will really drive demand this holiday season," CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck said.

Costco boosted its starting hourly wage to $17 this week, after raising it from $15 to $16 early this year. More than half of the retailer's staffers earn over $25 per hour and Costco boasts a high retention rate, with staffers staying for an average of nine years.

Retailers are increasingly opting to own their own industrial space to save money and remain in control of their supply chains, with the 25 largest US retailers acquiring 38 million rentable square feet of new space last year, according to CoStar Group. "These properties are essential to getting the goods that you need into the country and flowing through the supply chain to the consumer," said CoStar's Juan Arias.

Hasbro has delivered most toy shipments delayed during the third quarter because of port backups and other supply chain challenges, and the company says it expects to be able to fill demand for its toys and games during the holidays. Revenue rose 11% in the third quarter from the same period last year on strong sales of role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering.

From Sept. 9 -- the day President Biden announced a new emergency temporary standard requiring employers with 100 employees or more to ensure their workers are vaccinated against COVID-19 -- to Oct. 25, the percentage of fully vaccinated Americans increased from 53.7% to 57.7%. That's progress that could have been made without a vaccine mandate, and what makes sense for one business might be completely unworkable in another. Read more.

Consumers plan to spend $3.3 billion on costumes for Halloween this year. Source: NRF's Annual 2021 Halloween Spending Survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Congress can address the supply chain crisis now by passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, adding more truck drivers to the workforce and updating the Shipping Act. Join NRF in sending your SOS call to Congress now and tell them to "Save Our Shipments." Learn more.

Higher prices, larger average orders and new menu items fueled higher-than-expected sales and earnings growth at McDonald's in the fiscal year's third quarter. Global same-store sales grew 12.7% as restaurants in international markets relaxed pandemic-related restrictions; US same-store sales were up 9.6% year over year and 14.6% compared to the third quarter in 2019.