Finance & Capital Management

San Francisco – Although the mobile payment partnership that Starbucks and Square launched in 2012 will soon be ending, Square is reportedly still actively working with Starbucks. According to the San Francisco Business Journal, Square is publicly informing its users that Starbucks is using Square technology to process payments at 7,000 stores.  

Teen and pre-teen retailer Five Below landed two senior executives from Walmart.com and Ascena Retail Group for key roles as it looks to accelerate an already rapid pace of growth.

Walmart.com president and CEO Joel Anderson will join Five Below as president in July to oversee all aspects of merchandising, stores and marketing. Eric Specter, most recently EVP and chief integration officer for Ascena, will serve as Five Below’s chief administrative officer and oversee supply chain, information technology and real estate.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Spend on prepaid gift cards is on the rise this holiday season, as a significant majority (70%) of shoppers plan to purchase gift cards this season, according to an interim holiday spending report released by Stored Value Solutions, a provider of gift cards and stored value services.   According to the report, 92% of shoppers plan to spend either the same amount or more on gift cards than they spent last year. And for the eighth straight year, gift cards have been the most desired holiday gift.

Home Depot EVP Marvin Ellison will become president of J.C. Penney on November 1 and succeed Mike Ullman as CEO of the department store retailer next August.

New York - Retail sales worldwide, including both in-store and Internet purchases, will total nearly $22.5 trillion this year. According to new figures from EMarketer, the global retail market will see steady growth during the next few years, and in 2018, worldwide retail sales will increase 5.5% to reach $28.3 trillion.  

Walgreens said stronger sales from established stores helped it trump analyst expectations for the first quarter, even as the company's acquisition of European retailer Alliance Boots remains on track to close this month.

Walgreens reported a 16.4% lift in quarterly profit to $809 million that was credited to the 222 million prescriptions filled for the first quarter ended Nov. 30. 

New York City - In not-unexpected news, Family Dollar has delayed its shareholder vote on a potential acquisition by Dollar Tree; the vote is now slated for Jan. 22, and analysts say this could bode well for a potential deal with industry giant Dollar General.   Family Dollar convened as planned on Tuesday and, based on insufficient votes, subsequently adjourned its Special Meeting of Stockholders on the proposed transaction with Dollar Tree.  

Michael Huseby was named CEO at Barnes and Noble after previously serving briefly as the retailer’s CFO and then president.

Huseby will also serve on the company’s board and oversee the 673 store retail group led by CEO Mitchell Klipper and the 695 store college group led by CEO Max Roberts. Huseby joined Barnes & Noble in March 2012 as CFO and was named president in July 2013.