Finance & Capital Management

Betamax. Zune. Google Plus. These are just a few consumer technology applications that hit the market with a lot of hype and all failed to catch on for the same basic reason. It seems clear that the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader tablet can now be considered part of this list, although Barnes & Noble has not yet accepted it.

Boston – Specialty men’s apparel retailer Blank Label opens its second store in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood of Boston on June 30. According to CNBC, Blank Label, which opened as an online-only retailer in 2009 and opened its first store in Boston in 2013, plans to open six more new physical stores on the East Coast by 2016.

New York -- Richard Sharp, the former CEO of Circuit City and driving force behind CarMax, has died due to complications from a rare type of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 67.

TreeHouse Foods plans to acquire Flagstone Foods, a leading provider of private-label healthy snacks, one of the fastest growing on-trend categories in the food industry.

TreeHouse has agreed to pay Gryphon Investors and other shareholders $860 million in cash for the business, subject to an adjustment for working capital.

New York -- The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Wal-Mart violated Quebec labor law by closing its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, in 2005.
 
In a 5-2 decision announced on Friday, the court ruled that the 190 employees who were terminated when the store was closed are entitled to compensation, according to CBC Montreal.  
 

Payment Alliance International (PAI), a leading retail ATM solutions company, and OnPoint Community Credit Union have entered into an agreement to brand ATMs at all 72 Rite Aid pharmacies in Oregon.

PAI will own and operate the ATMs, which will be outfitted with OnPoint Community Credit Union’s branding. OnPoint members will have surcharge-free access to cash at Oregon Rite Aid pharmacies beginning July.

In its PizzaRev case study series, CSA offers an insider’s look at the conception, initial rollout and growth of the southern California-based fast-casual concept PizzaRev. Likened to “the Chipotle of pizza,” this innovative chain lets customers choose from an artisanal array of toppings to craft their own pizzas very quickly in a high-end stone hearth oven.

The Finish Line is off to a strong start in fiscal 2015, according to chairman and CEO Glenn Lyon, who credited the company’s omnichannel efforts for its first-quarter success.

The company reported consolidated net sales of $406.5 million, an increase of 15.8% over the prior year period. Comparable store sales increased 5%.