Finance & Capital Management

Katy, Texas -- Academy Sports + Outdoors will open its first Memphis-area store on Sept. 27, in Collierville, Tenn. In conjunction with the opening, Academy has signed a multi-year partnership with The University of Memphis and its athletics multimedia rights holder, Tiger Sports Properties.

The new 73,000-sq.-ft. Collierville store will be Academy's eighth store in Tennessee.

New York -- VeriFone Systems, a leading global secure electronic payments provider, named Paul Galant as CEO and elected him to its board of directors, effective Oct. 1.

Prior to joining VeriFone, Galant served as the CEO of Citigroup Inc.’s Enterprise Payments business. Before that, from 2009, Galant served as CEO of Citi Cards, heading Citigroup’s North American and International Consumer Credit Cards business.

Evansville, Ind. — Schnuck Markets plans to open two stores and remodel three locations in southwest Indiana, the supermarket chain said Tuesday.

Schnucks said it planned to invest more than $11 million in Evansville, Ind., which is the largest city in southwest Indiana. Chairman and CEO Scott Schnuck announced the plans at the Southwest Indiana Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting and dinner.

New York -- Consumer Confidence decreased in September amid resurfacing concerns about the short-term outlook for both jobs and earnings, according to The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index. The index, which had increased slightly in August, now stands at 79.7, down from 81.8 in August. Analysts had expected the index to fall to 79.9 this month.

The Present Situation Index grew to 73.2 from 70.9. The Expectations Index fell to 84.1 from 89.0 last month.

Bentonville, Ark. – A regional class-action gender bias suit filed against Wal-Mart Stores in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has reportedly been dismissed. According to Bloomberg, U.S, District Court Judge Robert N. Scola ruled that plaintiffs in the case had missed time limitations to file claims and that their claims were previously rejected in another gender bias case.

If it feels like summer just ended, that’s because it did: the first day of fall was Sept. 22. But you can bet your bottom dollar that retailers aren’t going to let a little thing like the calendar get in the way of moving forward with their holiday plans. In fact, if the recent spate of depressing economic news is any indicator, this year some brands might literally be betting their bottom dollar on the anticipated holiday sales boost.

Toronto – Sears Canada CEO Calvin McDonald has resigned to take a position with an unnamed international company. The retailer named COO and executive VP Douglas C. Campbell as president and CEO.

As COO, Campbell was responsible for retail store operations, logistics, replenishment, IT, corporate procurement, and international sourcing. Prior to joining Sears, Campbell was a principal with Boston Consulting Group and also an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Wayne, N.J. – Toys “R” Us, Inc. plans to hire 45,000 employees to staff its stores and distribution centers nationwide for the upcoming holiday season. This number is basically flat from last year’s holiday staffing totals.

New York -- The board of directors of Tiffany & Co. has appointed Frederic Cumenal to the position of president of Tiffany & Co. and also appointed him to a newly created seat on the company’s board. Cumenal, 54, who has been with Tiffany in a regional executive role since March 2011, will retain his regional responsibilities and will assume responsibility for the design, merchandising and marketing functions.

Littleton, Mass. – The board of directors and senior management of Dover Saddlery, Inc. have initiated a process to identify and consider a range of operational, financial and strategic alternatives to better pursue its growth strategy and that may accelerate the enhancement of value for the benefit of its stockholders.