Finance & Capital Management

HOUSTON — Specialty apparel and accessories retailer Charming Charlie has appointed four retail executives as part of the ongoing development of the company’s internal structure and another step in its ongoing national expansion, including the opening of 60 retail locations in 2012.

New York -- Swedish fast-fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) plans to call its new retail brand “& other stories” according to various media reports.

Redmond, Wash. -- REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) promoted Bill Baumann and Brad Brown to senior VP information technology, and e-commerce and direct sales respectively.

In addition, Kathleen Peterson has been named VP of REI Private Brands.

Pleasanton, Calif. -- Ross Stores announced that Glen Boyer, previously VP real estate market research, has been named group VP real estate market research & property management.

J.C. Penney is in the very beginning of its transformation. But the first component of the strategy — a new pricing model that jettisoned hundreds of promotions in favor a three-tier model — in already in place. And not surprisingly, experts are weighing in.

New York -- Starbucks Coffee Co. is planning to a major push into smaller cities in China, with a target of 1,500 stores in more than 70 Chinese cities by 2015, Bloomberg reported.

China will become the chain’s second largest market outside the United States, the report said. Currently, Starbucks has about 500 outlets in China and operates in 48 cities.

Houston -- Specialty retailer Charming Charlie announced the appointment of four retail executives as part of the ongoing development of the company’s internal structure and another step in its ongoing national expansion, including the opening of 60 retail locations in 2012.

Columbia, Md. -- Micros Systems  announced that Bertucci’s Italian Restaurant has expanded its partnership with Micros through the deployment of Micros webOrdering, a fully integrated online ordering program, and the cloud-based back-office platform, mymicros.net.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Mass merchandise chain Meijer has acquired a Michigan-based dairy, the company said.

Meijer announced the purchase of Bareman's Dairy, a family-owned company based in Holland, Mich., and the intention of investing more than $8 million into expansion of the plant.

Walmart SVP talent development Celia Swanson has been added to the roster of speakers for the NWA Business Women’s Conference on Sept. 11 hosted by the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce. Swanson joined Sam’s Club with the Pace membership club acquisition in 1994 as the senior director of the people group. She served as VP of the people group at Sam’s until 1997 when she was promoted to run membership, marketing and administration. She was named EVP in 2000, assumed leadership of change management in 2005 and moved to her current role in 2009.