Awards

New York – LLBean.com provided the highest-rated customer service of all major online retailers during the month of November 2013. According to the Stella Monthly Ranking from the StellaService customer service analysis firm, L.L. Bean was ranked number one for overall customer service and also in the email customer service area.

SierraTradingPost.com took top honors for phone customer service, Sears.com had the highest ranked shipping customer service and Bloomingdales.com has the best returns customer service.

Retailers were well represented on the 2013 edition of a best and worst CEOs list compiled by a business professor at a leading university.

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos topped the list of best CEOs, compiled by Sydney Finkelstein, associate dean for executive education and the Steven Roth professor of management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Making the list of worst CEOs were former J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson and current Sears Holdings chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert.

Columbus, Ohio — Glimcher Realty Trust has announced that its Board of Trustees has elected Yvette McGee Brown, Esq. and Nancy J. Kramer to serve as trustees on the Board, effective Dec. 12. McGee Brown and Kramer are eligible to be nominated for re-election to the Board at the company’s 2014 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

New York -- Due to the holiday rush and related closings, Chain Store Age has extended the deadline for its 32nd annual Retail Store of the Year Design Competition until Wednesday, January 8, 2014.

More than 20 competition categories are featured, including department stores, supermarkets, discounters, restaurants, convenience stores, specialty stores, service, sustainability and pop-up stores. This year, for the first time, the competition also includes the category of in-store digital innovation.

After more than 46 years of service, Publix Super Markets Miami division VP Bill Fauerbach has announced his decision to retire at the end of March 2014. Stepping into the role in his place will be Kevin Murphy on April 1.

“Bill helped grow our culture and build a solid foundation on which the Miami division will continue to grow. We thank him for his many contributions, and he will be missed by us all,” said Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw.

Wolverine Worldwide has appointed Gina R. Boswell to the company's board of directors.

Boswell is EVP, personal care, for global food, personal care and household products company Unilever. She has held numerous senior leadership positions with other leading global companies, including Avon Products, Ford Motor Company and Estée Lauder Companies.

Retailers usually measure 
the success of project spending by ROI, or "return on investment." ROI measures how many dollars you get back for every dollar you invest. This is a prudent and necessary way of justifying investment in things like IT systems, facilities and processes.

But not everything of value can be measured by simple dollars and cents. How do you measure the return on hope given to hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged children, both in the United States and around the world?

Washington, D.C. — ICSC has named EDENS the winner of two gold awards for its Mosaic development in Fairfax, Va. The awards were for the ICSC United States Gold Design and Development Award in the categories of New Development and Sustainable Design. ICSC announced the winners at the annual Retail Green and CenterBuild Conference in Phoenix.