Consumer Affairs & Relations

New York -- Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. has named board member Daniel W. Dienst, who most recently served as CEO of Sims Metal Management, as CEO. The position has been vacant since December, when chief executive since Lisa Gersh left the media and merchandising company.

Dienst served as chairman and CEO of Metal Management Ltd. from 2003 to 2008, when it was sold to Sims. He then took the helm at the newly combined company.

New York – Larry Kirshbaum, a publishing industry executive who joined Amazon.com’s New York-based publishing unit in 2011, is reportedly leaving the company to become a literary agent. According to the Associated Press, Kirshbaum, who formerly was in charge of the Time Warner Book Group will officially leave his position in January 2014.

New York -- Chinos Intermediate Holdings A, Inc., the indirect parent company of J. Crew Group, Inc., intends to issue $500 million of senior PIK toggle notes due 2019. The notes will be offered and will be sold in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers in the U.S, pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and to non-U.S. persons in transactions outside the U.S. pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act.   

Dodgeville, Wis. — Lands’ End has announced the opening of its first standalone store within a shopping mall — in the Yorktown Center Mall in Lombard, Ill., a Chicago suburb.

The store is slated to open on Nov. 15. For each sale made during the Grand Opening Event, the store will donate $50 to the Glen Ellyn food Pantry for a Thanksgiving Food Box meal.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Consumer confidence in October fell to a 10-month low, according to the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. Industry experts said the drop showed that even the reopening of the federal government was not enough to reassure nervous consumers.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan final consumer sentiment index decreased to 73.2, the weakest this year, down from 77.5 in September.

More Marketing News

Caty, N.C. – Consumers have somewhat contradictory desires for greater data privacy and for businesses to have detailed insight into their personal needs, and also have seen improvement in how businesses use personal data. According to a new study from analytics technology provider SAS, 71% of 1,260 respondents surveyed said that recent news about government access to personal data increased their privacy concerns.

New York -- The former chief marketing officer of Kohl’s, Julie Gardner, has joined the board of Cardtronics, which operates more than 80,000 ATMs at locations throughout the United States and internationally.

Gardner spent 14 years at Kohl’s and most recently served as executive VP and chief marketing officer. Prior to Kohl’s, Gardner was with the Eckerd Corp., a regional drugstore chain that was eventually acquired by CVS.

Julie Gardner, former chief marketing officer at Kohl’s, is the newest board of Cardtronics, the world’s largest retail ATM owner.

Cardtronics operates a vast network of more than 80,000 ATMs at locations throughout the United States and internationally.

Gardner spent 14 years at Kohl’s and most recently served as EVP and chief marketing officer. Prior to Kohl’s, Gardner was with the Eckerd Corp., a regional drug store chain that was eventually acquired by CVS.

New product launches in key categories and strong marketing helped Newell Rubbermaid gain market share during the company’s third quarter.

The leading consumer goods company said sales for the period ended September 30, grew a modest 2.1% to $1.5 billion while net income, aided by the sale of the company’s hardware business, increased to $193.3 million, or 66 cents a share, from $108.3 million, or 37 cents a share.

Less than two weeks after announcing plans to reduce overall international capital expenditures, top Walmart executives were telling a different story in China this week.

At a press event in Beijing, Walmart CEO Mike Duke and Walmart China CEO Greg Foran said the company planned to opening as many as 110 new facilities during the next three years including stores in China’s smaller cities while also closing up to 9% of its 397 units and remodeling 165 stores.