Consumer Affairs & Relations

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Monica Woo will be joining Sears Holdings as VP and CMO for Sears on Aug. 15. She will be the key executive responsible for directing the overall marketing, brand and advertising programs for Sears.

DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreens on Wednesday reported July sales of $5.82 billion, an increase of 4.7%.

SUNBURY, Pa. — Weis Markets answered the growing demand for local seasonal produce with the launch of a new campaign highlighting the contributions of its suppliers.

WASHINGTON — The Grocery Manufacturers Association has named George Dunaif, Ph.D., DABT, VP food safety and technical services.

Dunaif most recently served as VP global food safety at Campbell Soup. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s worldwide food safety function, including toxicology, microbiology, process safety and analytical chemistry. He also served as vice-chairman of the Campbell corporate crisis management team.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Winn-Dixie Stores announced that it expects to report net sales of approximately $6.9 billion compared with $7 billion for the prior fiscal year (which included an extra week), reflecting a 0.1% decrease in identical-store sales. Net loss from continuing operations is expected to be approximately $30 million or 54 cents per diluted share, compared with net income from continuing operations of $37 million or 67 cents per diluted share for fiscal 2010. 

ACE Hardware CFO and EVP Dorvin Lively is leaving the Oak Brook, Ill.-based hardware co-op to  pursue other interests.

Lively joined Ace about three years ago and was promoted to EVP in January 2011. On an interim basis, Lori Bossmann will oversee the finance department, while the co-op searches for a new CFO.

Lively was a professional accounting fellow at the Financial Accounting Standards Board in the early 1990s. He later became a senior VP and corporate controller at Toys “R” Us before moving on to Maidenform Brands, and then to Ace Hardware in 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO —  Levi's announced that it has appointed Beto Guajardo as its new global VP strategy. In this role, Guajardo will be responsible for leading the development and execution of the brand's growth strategy and global business development.

Buying online from Amazon.com is a fantastic experience. Between the broad assortment, product reviews, available shipping options, ease of checkout and simple returns process there is a lot to like. It’s why the company’s sales are on fire, profits are beating analysts’ estimates, and the stock has traded above $200 the past month.

Washington, D.C. -- A Tuesday report from the Commerce Department showed that consumer spending dropped 0.2% in June, to $21.9 billion.

Personal income was virtually flat for the month, increasing 0.1% to $18.7 billion, which was in line with estimates.

New York City -- A Monday report by the Associated Press said that Verizon Wireless will install apps for American Express Co.'s new online payment service, Serve, on its phones and tablets.

Terms of the agreement between Verizon Wireless and American Express have not been revealed. Verizon’s Serve online payment service is based on pre-funded accounts, and it enables online transactions without entering a credit card number.