Consumer Affairs & Relations

New York -- Embattled Southern celebrity chef Paula Deen is opening a headquarters and store in Clarence, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo, this February. The shop, Paula Deen Foods, will include a showroom designed to resemble Deen's home kitchen and offer products from her branded line of goods.

New York – More than half of Americans (53%) prefer general purpose gift cards as opposed to branded gift cards. In addition, new survey data from Bankrate.com shows that almost two in three Americans have given a gift card, and more than three in four have received one.

The most common value of gift cards, both given and received, is between $25 and $50. People older than 65 and those between 18 and 29 years old are the least likely to give a gift card. As income level increases, Americans are more likely to give and receive gift cards.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Angela F. Braly, 52, has been named to the Lowe’s board of directors, with a term expiring at Lowe’s 2014 annual meeting of shareholders. This brings Lowe’s board of directors to 12 members, 11 of whom are independent.

Plymouth, Minn. -- The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. has filed a lawsuit on behalf of certain purchasers of Tile Shop common stock over alleged violations of federal securities laws in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between August 22, 2012 and November 13, 2013. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants failed to disclose that one of its largest suppliers, Beijing Pingxiu, is an undisclosed related company secretly controlled by Fumitake Nishi, the brother-in-law of the company's CEO and a Tile Shop employee.

This year, it seems that you can’t turn on the TV or read the news without seeing that another store is opening on Thanksgiving. Some believe Black Friday is fading away as more retailers choose to open early to compete with other shopping options such as online sales. I don’t think that Black Friday is going away, but I do think that it is evolving to best serve the needs of the consumer. Any retailer that is going to be successful long-term has to evolve, too.

New York – Patrick F. McGuiness, CFO of Tiffany’s, has resigned his position effective Nov. 27, 2013. James M. Fernandez, 58, executive VP and COO of Tiffany’s, will assume the position of CFO on an interim basis.

Plymouth, Minn. -- The Tile Shop says it rejects a report stating its historical financial statements may require restatement along with other accounting irregularities. The company denies these allegations and believes that the financial statements are properly stated and its business practices are appropriate.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are committing $1 million to the Red Cross and Save the Children for emergency relief efforts in response to needs created by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. The donation includes funds given by the Walmart Foundation and Walmart's international operations.

Houston – Jos. A. Bank has officially withdrawn its all-cash bid to purchase Men’s Wearhouse for $48 per share, or about $2.3 billion, after failing to get the retailer to enter into merger talks ahead of a Thursday deadline.

Robert N. Wildrick, chairman of the board of Jos. A. Bank, sent a letter to Men’s Wearhouse CEO Doug Ewert informing him that since Men’s Wearhouse had not engaged in good faith negotiations by a previously stated Nov. 14 deadline, Jos. A. Bank would terminate its proposal.

Following a heated back-and-forth between Jos. A. Bank and the Men’s Wearhouse, which culminated in an ultimatum, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers has terminated its acquisition proposal.

As previously reported, Jos. A. Bank had advised the Men's Wearhouse board that it would terminate its all-cash proposal to purchase the company for $48 per share if the board failed to “engage in good faith negotiations” by Nov. 14. The day came and went and the companies continued in a deadlock.