Turnarounds take time, and the road isn't without hurdles—just ask the struggling J.C. Penney.

But some turnarounds have happy endings, and for global specialty retailer Gap, the current outcome is a positive one. Both consumers and investors are again falling into the Gap.

"The consumer across all brands is waking up and saying Gap and Old Navy are a potential choice in their shopping trips now versus years ago when they wouldn't have considered going in the stores. The brands are back in the consumer psyche," said Randal Konik, an analyst at Jefferies.

Inspired by the glitz and glamour of "The Great Gatsby's" 1920s backdrop (and hoping to capitalize on some free press), several retailers have launched collections to help consumers to live it up West Egg style.

Two of these retailers, high-end jewelry designer Tiffany and Brooks Brothers, collaborated with the movie's costume designer Catherine Martin to outfit the actors. Both retailers went back to through their extensive archives to create items that resemble their own Jazz Age offerings.

"The film has seen an unprecedented level of marketing in advance of its release, which brings it into the consciousness of a very wide reach of customer," said Laura Pickard, a U.K. womenswear editor at WGSN, a trend forecasting firm. "It makes sense then for retailers to tap into this zeitgeist and jump on the potential huge success of the film.

The Stella Artois family is getting larger. But this time around you can the leave the beer chalice on the shelf.

Anheuser-Busch Inbev is rolling out a brand extension, Stella Artois Cidre, hoping the beer brand's premium name recognition can set the new release apart from the crowd in one of the fastest-growing beverage categories in the country.

While hard cider is often seen as beer's smaller-in-market-size and sweeter tasting cousin, that's not the play Anheuser-Busch is making here. Cidre (pronounced CEE-dra) is aimed at the white wine drinker and Stella Artois recommends this beverage be served in a white wine glass.

Economists aren't the only ones watching improving home sales closely. Emboldened by recent numbers, retail giants J.C. Penney and Target are bolstering their home furnishing offerings in hopes that new buyers will need to decorate.

The decision to invest in the home section could be a smart one if recent retail sales trends hold steady. In March, sales at furniture and home furnishings stores ticked up 2.8 percent from the year before, according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. A separate report from IBM showed that home-goods sales rose nearly 2 percent in the first quarter while appliance sales were about 0.7 percent higher.

IBM's Big Data-based retail forecast attributed part of this rise to a recovering housing market that's driving home good sales, particularly in the appliances category. This rise in home goods sales comes as the percent of first-time homebuyers, who are crucial to fueling recoveries, inches closer to its historic level.

Despite an uneven consumer landscape, Wendy's expects its makeover to boost same-store sales this year, CEO Emil Brolich told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Wednesday.

"Certainly, it's a challenging economic environment out there," Brolich said. "But, remember, this is a very large marketplace, and there's always been an opportunity for excellent success for those brands that are relevant to consumers. We believe we can be one of those brands."

Christmas isn't for seven months, but Christmas tree growers have already discovered coal in their stockings.

"I'm pretty frustrated with the White House," said Betty Malone of Sunrise Tree Farm in Philomath, Oregon. Malone has been in the business for 40 years, but she said tree sales are falling even as the population grows. "There are challenges to our industry from outside of the U.S., from plastic trees coming from China."

A Harris poll conducted for the National Christmas Tree Association revealed a 20 percent drop in the numbers of live Christmas trees bought between 2011 and 2012. When Americans were asked if they displayed a tree during the holidays, 56 percent said they put up a fake tree, while only 17 percent said they bought a live one.

Outdoor chefs are in for an unhappy surprise as the summer grilling season approaches: The cost to fire up a backyard barbecue is going up.

The price of wholesale beef hit an all-time high Friday and there is no indication it will decline this year. While the price of beef alone is up at least 5 percent, that summer cookout is going to feel much more expensive to any serious barbecue aficionado buying good-quality meat.

It's far from a done deal, but the days of mostly tax-free shopping on the Internet moved one big step closer to ending on Monday.

By a vote of 69 to 27, the Senate passed the Marketplace Fairness Act with bi-partisan support. The bill would allow a state that has a sales tax to require online retailers—those with more than a million dollars in out-of-state sales each year—to collect that sales tax from all of its customers in that state.

Zac Brown, the Grammy-award winning country singer who often writes about beer in his lyrics, will soon have his image on specially designed beer cans.

Landshark Lager, an Anheuser-Busch InBev brand, will feature the Zac Brown Band on limited-edition, 16-ounce cans hitting shelves nationwide this week. Two additional Zac Brown Band can designs will be released later this summer.

While Landshark Lager is one of the smaller brands in the Anheuser-Busch portfolio, the partnership with Zac Brown Band is taken from the same promotional play book the brewer is using for some of its larger brands, namely to highlight an association with music.

The top-selling Bud Light will be the sponsor of "Bud Light Music First," a summer-long music and concert promotion that will culminate with Bud Light presenting one concert in each of the 50 states on Aug. 1.

Decades after downing their first juice boxes, health-conscious Americans are showing renewed enthusiasm for cold-pressed juice, a trend that's prompting private equity and venture capitalists to follow in search of profits.

After sampling the offerings of several juice companies, Jonathan Grayer, the CEO of Weld North, an investment firm in partnership with KKR, bought a minority stake in Organic Avenue and eventually invested more, for a 70 percent share of the company, shelling out "eight figures" in the process, he said.