Consumer Affairs & Relations

RadioShack has lost its CEO after he served only nine months on the job.

Ron Garriques has stepped down as chief executive of the consumer electronics chain in order “to pursue other interest in a role that will put him back closer to his family,”   the retailer said in a statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The company's CFO, Gordon Briscoe,  will serve as interim CEO until a replacement is found.

Dov Charney, founder and outsted CEO of American Apparel, made an emotional—and meandering—plea to regain control of the company at a bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware on Thursday.

“I’m a merchant, I’m a creative artist, I’m a photographer, I’m a marketer, I’m an industrialist,” Charney said, according to the New York Times. “I don’t want to hand over my company. This is coercion.”

The Southeast’s leading supermarket operator will give new meaning to its tag line “where shopping is a pleasure” when it opens a new small format on the campus

Modell’s Sporting Goods is playing to win when it comes to network security.

Operating more than 150 stores throughout the East Coast, New York-based Modell’s is protecting customer data and personal information residing within its infrastructure. Modell’s us using a software-based network security solution from Cyphort to actively monitor and detect suspicious activity.

Staples is giving itself three more months before calling off its proposed $6.3 billion acquisition of Office Depot, giving the companies time to fight an antitrust lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission.

Publix Super Markets continues to make news on the executive front.

Tiffany & Co. says weak tourist spending and a strong dollar hurt its sales results for the two-month holiday period.

The retailer said worldwide net sales declined 3% (due to declines in the Americas and Asia-Pacific offsetting growth in Japan and Europe) and same store sales declined 5%. There were no noteworthy differences in performance among jewelry categories, the company said. Reported in U.S. dollars, worldwide net sales of $961 million were 6% lower than the prior year.

When providing the BDO retail IPO outlook for 2015 at the beginning of this year, we asked: Will consumer businesses face a potential Alibaba hangover in 2015?