Finance & Capital Management

Home appliance and consumer electronics manufacturer Haier America has chosen the northern New Jersey town of Wayne as the location of its new 56,000-sq.-ft. U.S. headquarters.

The new facility will be home to 200 employees, training centers, customer service operations and a product showroom where retailers can see new products and concepts. Renovations are currently underway on a building at 1800 Valley Road in Wayne, N.J., that will replace the company’s current office at 1356 Broadway in Manhattan this fall.

Village Super Market, which operates a chain of 29 supermarkets under the ShopRite name in New Jersey, Maryland and eastern Pennsylvania, saw net income fall 69% during the second quarter, compared to the same period in the prior year, driven in part by flat same-store sales.

New York -- The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case brought by former Amazon warehouse workers that could determine whether companies have to compensate employees for time spent undergoing end-of the-shift security searches.

New York -- Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. has accused Mitchell Modell, CEO of Modell’s Sporting Goods, of disguising himself as a Dick’s executive to illegally obtain confidential business information, The Record reported.

Suffern, N.Y. -- Ascena Retail Group, the operator of Lane Bryant, Justice and Dress Barn stores, reported second-quarter profit of $31.9 million, down from $47.2 million in the year-ago period. Looking ahead, the company reduced its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $1.00 to $1.05 per share from its previous guidance range of $1.10 to $1.15 per share.

Sales increased to $1.27 billion from $1.24 billion last year. Same-store sales were flat.

Tokyo – Mt. Gox, the Japan-based global bitcoin platform which unexpectedly went offline on Feb. 25, 2014, has filed for bankruptcy and publicly stated that hackers may have stolen as much as $500 million worth of bitcoins from the company and its users.

Canton, Mass. – Dunkin’ Donuts is recruiting franchisees in Dothan, Ala. Currently, there are 18 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants located throughout Alabama. To help fuel growth in Dothan, special development incentives are available, which include reduced royalty fees for three years and up to $10,000 in local store marketing.  

New York -- The Jones Group Inc. has scheduled a special meeting of The Jones Group shareholders for April 7, 2014 to consider and vote upon the previously announced merger agreement entered into with Sycamore Partners on Dec. 19, 2013. Under the agreement, affiliates of Sycamore Partners will acquire The Jones Group for $15 per share in cash, or about $1.2 billion.

Atlanta - Michael P. Ryan, operational VP of Aaron’s Inc., has been named VP of franchising. Todd Evans, current VP of franchising, will be leaving Aaron's to pursue other opportunities.

Henri Rogers, senior regional manager for Aaron's Three Rivers region, will succeed Ryan as divisional VP of northern operations.

Fremont, Calif. -- Men's Wearhouse Inc. and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. may be inching closer to a deal. Men’s Wearhouse announced that it had reached a nondisclosure agreement with its rival, setting up talks that could lead to a merger of the two retailers. The two firms announced they are exchanging certain confidential information with each other and working in good faith to evaluate a potential combination.

As part of the agreement, Jos. A. Bank submitted a draft of a merger agreement to Men’s Wearhouse.