Finance & Capital Management

One retail category that’s been fascinating to watch evolve over the last several years is the women’s athletic apparel segment. Judging by the number of times reporters have asked me about women’s athletic apparel retailers in the last few months, I’m not the only one who thinks so.

The National Retail Federation has hired Mary Heitman as VP of retail programs.

Heitman previously served as director of events and deputy director of development for the Trust for the National Mall, where managed corporate sponsorships and events designed to increase donor engagement, identified and cultivated prospects and leveraged relationships in the government affairs and corporate community. Prior to the Trust for the National Mall, she owned and operated a private marketing and fundraising firm and served as finance director for the Republican National Committee.

Orlando, Fla. -- JLL continues to build its retail brokerage practice in Florida with the addition of Andrew Dieringer, Terrence Hart and Brandon Delanois. The trio bring more than 40 years of retail agency leasing and tenant representation experience to the team, and will be based in the firm’s Orlando office. Together, they will partner with John Lambert, Florida Retail Market Lead for JLL, and Justin Greider, VP of JLL, to help investors achieve their asset goals and work with retailers to identify and secure optimal new locations.

Gordmans Stores new CEO Andy Hall is looking to execute a turnaround at the off price department store chain where weak sales trends and losses indicate he is in for a big challenge.
 

While food and consumable retailers are struggling to pass along price increases and grow same stores sales, luxury retailer Tiffany is having little difficulty with either metric.

Amazon has unveiled a new scholarship for college students in the U.S. Called the Amazon Student Scholarship, the merit-based scholarship will reward 50 full-time undergraduate students with $5,000 toward tuition and $500 to spend on textbooks on Amazon.

Applications are being accepted now, with the scholarship money distributed in time for fall semester 2015. Interested students can learn more at www.amazon.com/studentscholarship.

Fort Myers, Fla. – Chico’s FAS Inc. reported net income of $30.1 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2014, down 31% from $43.6 million in the year-ago period. Price cuts needed to clear seasonal merchandise were a primary driver of Chico’s lower net income. Its results missed Wall Street expectations.

Net sales for the quarter ended August 2, 2014, were $671.1 million, up 3.3% from $649.5 million in the previous year, primarily reflecting the addition of 98 net new stores.  

Total same-store sales rose 0.3%.

Keurig Green Mountain has appointed José Octavio Reyes Lagunes, retired vice chairman of The Coca-Cola Export Corporation, to its board of directors.