Finance & Capital Management

Philadelphia -- Teen and tween fave Five Below Inc. may not be meeting sales projections, but it remains on track for store expansion, with plans to open a total of 70 net new stores during fiscal 2015, including 16 net new stores in the third quarter.

The company, where every item costs no more than $5, is achieving its profitability targets, but doing so with productivity improvement in its selling space that is surprisingly weak given the newness of its store base.

Dodgeville, Wis. – The second quarter was nothing short of a fiscal landslide for Lands’ End as the specialty retailer posted its third straight disappointing quarter. Revenue fell 10% and profit was down by more than a third.

“The results that we are sharing today do not represent the true potential of our company,” Federica Marchionni, president and CEO, told analysts during a conference call.

Fueled in part by increased pharmacy sales, Fred’s reported Thursday that its August sales hit $165.6 million this year, up 12% over August 2014.

A rapidly expanding retailer led by a former top Walmart executive is supposed to produce strong same store sales growth, leverage expenses and increase profits. So why isn’t Five Below?

Joel Anderson’s tenure as CEO of value priced retailer Five Below (where everything cost less than $5) is off to an uneven start. The company is achieving its profitability targets, but doing so with productivity improvement in its selling space that is surprisingly weak given the newness of its store base.

Target Corp. has a new finance chief and executive VP. Cathy Smith officially joined the discounter on Sept. 1, coming from Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits manager, where she was also CFO.  

A seasoned retail leader, Smith also held CFO positions at Walmart International, GameStop, and others. Target recently posted a Q&A with Smith on its Bullseye blog. Here are some highlights:

What made you decide to take on this role at Target?

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation continues to turn up the heat on the Labor Department’s proposal to expand overtime pay.   

The CEO of Genesco Inc. says the company had strong sales despite the later start to the back-to-school season and some pressures to right-size inventories.

Los Angeles -- The nation’s largest privately held specialty premium coffee and tea retailer has a new chief.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf named John Fuller as its new president and CEO. For the past five years, he served as president and CEO of The Johnny Rockets Group, where he directed operations for the multi-million dollar global restaurant chain, which spans 28 countries with 338 locations. Fuller left Johnny Rockets earlier this year.