PING SIGNS MICHAEL THOMPSON TO SHOW OFF THEIR WARES:
University of Alabama’s All-American Michael Thompson, the world’s top-ranked amateur before recently turning pro, will endorse PING® golf equipment and headwear.

“Michael’s been associated with PING throughout his outstanding collegiate career,” said Solheim. “Now that he’s turned professional, we look forward to furthering that relationship. He’s already proven he can compete at the major championship level. We’re excited to have him join our staff and all of us at PING look forward to following his progress.”

“I’ve relied on PING equipment since my freshman year at Tulane,” said Thompson, who was named 2008 SEC Player of the Year. “I have been amazed at both the product technology and the service they provide to ensure my every need is being met.

TWINS ENTERPRISES TO DISTRIBUTE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE HEADWEAR:
Twins Enterprise Inc will distribute the National Hockey League licensed headwear and apparel in Canada. The company, based in Boston and Dedham, has worked with the NHL in the United States for 10 years.

Twins Enterprise is a privately owned licensed products company founded in 1947 by twin brothers Arthur and Henry D’Angelo.

Sears has teamed up with rapper LL Cool J to launch LL Cool J for Sears. The collection of casualwear for juniors, young men's, girls' and boys' will roll out to 450 stores in September and could generate $100 million to $150 million the first year.

In a recent interview on the LL Cool J brand, Irv Neger, Sears' senior vice president of apparel, said the chain knows the urban consumer does visit the store. "But it's a customer we weren't reaching. With this brand, we see tremendous growth opportunity."

Sears is not without its competition. Avril Lavigne is launching a line at Kohl's, J.C. Penney kicked off Fabulosity by Kimora Simmons and Wal-Mart now has Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen on their payroll.

Profits for Sears fell 47.5 percent to $426 million from $811 million a year ago, and revenues slid 6.8 percent to $15.1 billion from $16.2 billion. For the full year, Sears' net income dropped 44.6 percent to $826 million.

If you’ve been to a Sears store lately you won’t be surprised about this news. Sears is one of the only stores (other than Macy’s) that has no identity. And other than having no personality, this is bad news. So, we say to Sears, “Good luck with that.”

Industry speculation focused on the possibility of a bankruptcy filing.

Mervyns, based in Hayward, Calif., has been hurt by the housing slowdown, rising gas and food prices, job cuts and tight credit.

It would be a shame to see this store bite the dust. We’ll have to see what the future brings for this retailer. But it seems our need for stuff has been trumped by our need for gas and food.