OPERATIONS / SUPPLY CHAIN

New York -- Panera Bread would like its customers to leave their guns at home. The bakery-cafe chain joined a handful of other high-profile retailers, including Starbucks, Chipotle, and Target, to make the request.  

West Berlin, N.J. - E Z Pantry Inc. is expanding its grocery shopping and delivery service to senior citizens and the disabled community. With this grocery delivery service, customers in the South Jersey area including Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester counties can call in their orders and have their food delivered the next day.

New York - Tiffany & Co. has named Jill Beraud as an executive VP, effective Oct. 13. Beraud will have responsibility for global retail operations including all sales channels in every region, as well as oversight of strategic store development and real estate.

Beraud, 54, joins Tiffany from salon product manufacturer Living Proof where she has been CEO since 2011. Prior to that, her experience includes senior-level executive and marketing roles at PepsiCo Inc., L Brands, Inc. and The Procter & Gamble Co., among others.

New York -- Sycamore Partners announced that it has reorganized its Nine West Footwear Group into four separate businesses, each with its own leadership team. The top leadership has changed as well, as the company announced Nine West Footwear Group CEO Kathy Nedorostek has stepped down. She will be replaced in the interim by Andrew Hede, a turnaround specialist and managing director with Alvarez & Marsal in New York.

Atlanta - Several Home Depot customers filed a class-action lawsuit on Thursday, Sept.4 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division. The suit alleges that Home Depot failed to meet its legal obligation to protect their credit card and personal information and failed to timely warn them that their information had been stolen or compromised.

New York -- California is on track to become the first state in the United States to impose a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. Lawmakers passed the bill last week, and California governor Jerry Brown on Thursday said he would probably sign it into law.  

The legislation would ban single-use plastic bags from supermarkets and drug stores in 2015, and from convenience and liquor stores in 2016. The bill would allow stores to charge 10 cents for paper or reusable bags.

Cincinnati - The Kroger Co. is hiring to fill an estimated 20,000 permanent positions in its supermarket divisions. The company has created more than 40,000 permanent new jobs in the past six years, not including the 25,000 employees who joined as a result of the Harris-Teeter acquisition.

"Kroger's growth trajectory creates more job opportunities for current and future employees," said Katy Barclay, Kroger's senior VP of human resources.

Coppell, Texas – Alco Stores Inc. has named director Stanley B. Latacha as Interim CEO, effective immediately. Richard Wilson, who served as CEO for the past four years, has left Alco by mutual agreement with the board of directors.

Latacha has more than 30 years of retail experience, including overseeing turnarounds at Richman Gordman, Goody's, and more recently Pamida.