Finance & Capital Management

Crowdsourced grocery delivery provider Instacart is already putting the $44 million in funding from big name Silicon Valley investors that it received a little more than a week ago to good use. The company has this week launched its one-hour grocery delivery service in Denver and Atlanta.

Austin, Texas – Whole Foods Market Inc. is being fined about $800,000 for charging excessive prices in California. Inspections of Whole Foods and Mrs. Gooch’s stores in the state revealed that the retailer was charging for the weight of salad bar containers, selling prepared foods by the item rather than the pound, and labeling items as heavier than their actual weight.

The Barnes & Noble board has given the company the green light to separate its retail and Nook Media businesses to optimize shareholder value.

The company anticipates completing the separation of the businesses into two separate public companies by the end of the first quarter next year.

Dedham, Mass. - Reflexis Systems Inc. today announced the appointment of Brett Friedman as senior VP of global sales and marketing. He will be responsible for expanding the Reflexis global sales team and building upon the company’s growth.

Friedman brings 15 years of sales and marketing experience and joins Reflexis from Infor, where he had global revenue responsibility for supply chain and PLM solutions. Prior to Infor, he was senior VP of global sales at Allegro Development and has also held leadership positions at SAP and i2 Technologies.

The Shopko Foundation has announced the recipients of its Shopko Teammate and Family Scholarships for the 2014-2015 school year. The foundation awarded $75,000 in scholarships to 30 students in 9 states.

HanesBrands plans to acquire DBApparel of France from Sun Capital Partners, provided consultation with European and French works councils representing DBA employees is completed and customary closing conditions are met.

▲ Customer experience: Poorly maintained stores cost sales and dilute the brand and customer experience. Not giving facilities the funding required to keep stores clean and in good condition will impact the bottom line in that customers will shop elsewhere. Today, more than ever, shoppers have high expectations regarding the look and feel of a store, and they also have many more options from which to choose.

Minneapolis – Target Corp. reportedly experienced difficulties in areas including product mix and corporate creativity under ousted CEO Gregg Steinhafel. According to the Wall Street Journal, these difficulties preceded any problems relating to Target’s fall 2013 data breach or expansion into Canada and helped lead to Steinhafel’s essentially forced resignation.