Finance & Capital Management

Foothill Ranch, Calif. – In a move that was somewhat expected, The Wet Seal Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move comes a week after the struggling teen retailer said it was closing 338 of its stores, leaving it with approximately 173 stores nationwide.

“After careful consideration, the Board of Directors unanimously concluded that filing for Chapter 11 was the appropriate course of action for the Company,” said CEO Ed Thomas.

Milwaukee – Roundy’s Inc. expects to open five new stores in fiscal 2015, including one in the first quarter. However, the grocery chain also said it expects earnings per diluted share from continuing operations of flat to -$0.05 in the first quarter and a net loss of $0.07 to $0.18 per share in the fiscal year.

Fort Worth, Texas – RadioShack Corp. is reportedly negotiating with Sprint to sell some of its store leases to the wireless carrier. According to Bloomberg, Sprint executives said the company is planning to expand its store count through acquisitions at an investor conference last week.

Leading apparel manufacturer Kellwood has named ex-Barnes & Noble chief financial officer Joseph Lombardi as CEO.

Lombardi joined Kellwood as CFO in 2013, and has three decades of retail experience across a variety of sectors, including apparel.

Washington, D.C. -- Retail Properties of America, Inc., has it closed on its $162.8-million acquisition of the retail portion of Downtown Crown, a class A mixed-use project located in Gaithersburg, Maryland (Washington, D.C. MSA). RPAI acquired the project from The JBG Companies and JBGR Retail.

New York -- Consumers are feeling bullish, buoyed by low gas prices and an improving job market. The University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index for January rose to an 11-year high of 98.2, from a final reading of 93.6 for December.

In reviewing Target’s troubled expansion into Canada, Kantar Retail breaks down the misfires into a finance-operations model:

BRAND

Charlotte, N.C. – The store is still the center of profit, and Belk Inc. is focusing on increased control, efficiency and visibility of workforce activities to maximize that profit. Belk has implemented Reflexis Workforce Manager, Reflexis Time & Attendance, Reflexis Task Manager, and Reflexis Advanced Analytics & Reporting to streamline corporate-to-store communication, track completion status of important tasks and projects, increase labor efficiency, reduce costs, and comply with complex labor laws.