Consumer Affairs & Relations

Phoenix – PetSmart on Wednesday named industry veteran Michael J. Massey as its president and CEO, effective immediately. Massey, who most recently served as CEO and president of Collective Brands Inc., replaces David Lenhardt, who stepped down upon the closing of private equity firm BC Partners’s acquisition of the pet supplies retailer.  Also, BC Partners managing partner Raymond Svider has been appointed non-executive chairman.

Walter J. Salmon, the distinguished Harvard Business School professor who influenced generations of retailers, has died at the age of 84.

Salmon, long one of the world’s leading experts on retailing, retail distribution, and marketing, who for more than 40 years influenced thousands of students, executives and other academics, was the school’s Stanley Roth Sr. Professor of Retailing Emeritus.

The decade-old team effort between Lowe's and Habitat for Humanity was on display again this month in Las Vegas, but this time, a six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion joined the team as well.

Jimmie Johnson worked together with Lowe’s employee volunteers and other volunteers from Habitat for Humanity Las Vegas to raise the walls of a new home at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Kobalt 400 race weekend.

Alexandria, Va. - Rising gas prices are taking a toll on consumer optimism about the economy. According to survey results released by the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), consumer optimism fell from 54% to 44%, the largest decrease in optimism since August 2014,

Toano, Va. – Lumber Liquidators has been making the wrong kind of headlines recently, but the specialty hardwood flooring retailer has some good news to share about its expanded showroom store format. Currently, nearly a third of Lumber Liquidators’ 350-plus store locations have implemented the expanded showroom and that number will continue to rise throughout the next several years.   

San Francisco -- Gap Inc., Petco Animal Supplies, Levi Strauss are the only U.S. retail brands to be recognized by the Ethisphere Institute as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company.

The annual designation, which recognizes organizations that foster a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the organization was given to 132 companies. The only other retail brands on this year’s list are Sweden’s H&M and the United Kingdom’s Marks and Spencer.

Los Angeles – A little more than a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, specialty women’s apparel retailer Cache is throwing in the towel. Advisory and valuation services provider Great American Group (GA), which won a bid for Cache’s assets at a March 3 bankruptcy auction, has begun "going-out-of-business" sales for all Cache's retail locations in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.  

The Ethisphere Institute is out with its “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list and the names of retailers are few and far between.