Finance & Capital Management

Secaucus, N.J. -- The Children's Place Retail Stores announced the appointment of Eric Bauer as COO. He will be responsible for supply chain, planning and allocation, store operations, finance, information technology and real estate.

Bauer most recently he spent eight years with The Gap, culminating in his appointment as executive VP brand operations COO, for Gap North America where he was responsible for finance, store operations, real estate, distribution, logistics, information technology and their Canadian operations.

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Sears Holdings Corp. is researching a possible move of its headquarters and 6,200 jobs out of Illinois, a company spokesman said Monday.

The retailer has had preliminary discussions with the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, where it is located, and has commissioned an economic impact study, according to spokesman Chris Brathwaite.

NEW YORK —The unemployment rate in April edged up to 9.0%, compared with 8.8% in March 2011.

Construction employment was about unchanged in April, according to Friday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This industry has shown little net movement since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the prior three years.

Overall, the economy added 244,000 jobs in April, a higher gain than anticipated by analysts.

Although revenues at Target last year increased 3.1% to nearly $67.4 billion, other big companies grew faster, and Target slipped three spots to 33rd from 30th in Fortune’s annual ranking of America’s 500 largest companies.

ARLINGTON, Va.  — The Retail Industry Leaders Association announced that Bill Hughes has joined the association as SVP government relations. Hughes, a 27-year veteran of Capitol Hill, will serve as RILA’s top federal lobbyist.

Delinquency trends in Target’s credit card portfolio just keep getting better. During April, the percentage of accounts 60 or 90 days past due sank to their lowest level of the past three years. Only 2.4% of accounts were 90 days past due during April, compared with 2.6% in March and 2.9% in February. Throughout most of 2009 and early 2010, the 90-day delinquency rates was above 4% and approached 5% at times.

SAN FRANCISCO — A new bill introduced by a California assemblywoman aims to curb the sale of alcohol to minors by prohibiting sales at self-service checkouts.

Assembly Bill 183, introduced last month by Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco and San Mateo Counties, was passed by the assembly committee. Assemblywoman Ma said that self-service checkouts are susceptible to technological failures, allowing minors to purchase alcohol.

Projections calling for a low-to-mid single-digit comp increase at Target during May don’t sound overly aggressive, but when factoring in some of the economic headwinds and uncertainties facing the U.S. economy, the sales plan begins to sound more ambitious.

Consumers are dealing with higher fuel prices, food inflation and lingering unemployment. Where $4 a gallon gas prices are headed next is big unknown, but it is only May and historically prices increase during the summer. Ouch!

BrandZ has released its list of the most valuable retail brands, and Target came in at number 5 out of 20 companies listed. According to the report, Target earned its spot by expanding its food selection and repositioning itself as a low-price leader and thereby countering the perception of it being a trendier, albeit pricier store than its competitors.

Out of the 100 global brands (including both retail and non-retail companies), Target came in at number 65.

Chelmsford, Mass. -- Retail hiring is on the rise, according to the May report of the Kronos Retail Labor Index, a family of metrics and indices that analyze the relationship between the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector.