Finance & Capital Management

Westborough, Mass. – Has BJ’s Wholesale Club found its next CEO?

The retailer named Christopher Baldwin, former CEO of Hess Retail, as president and COO, a position in which Baldwin is poised to succeed Laura Sen, current CEO of BJ’s.

Baldwin will assume his new responsibilities at the chain on Sept. 8, where he will oversee merchandising, logistics, membership, marketing club operations.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. is making a big purchase that will enable it to build a big store on one of Hawaii’s biggest islands.

The retailer is purchasing an 11-acre property in Kahului, Hawaii for $18.7 million from A&B Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin.

Lowe’s plans to build a 167,000-sq.-ft. store on the site, located on the island of Maui. The new store will be 16% larger than Lowe’s current store in Kahului, which it leases from a third party.

Bellport, N.Y. – Perfumania wants to be sure investors hear about its growth potential. The specialty fragrance and beauty retailer has retained JCIR, a New York City-based investor relations firm, to expand its investor relations and financial community outreach program.

Jackson, Miss. -- The fast-growing Newk’s Eatery named Robert Nygren as CFO.

Nygren comes to Newk’s with nearly two decades of financial management experience. He most recently served as VP of finance for DineEquity, the world’s largest full-service restaurant company, overseeing financial planning, analytics and strategy for Applebee’s and IHOP in conjunction with the brands’ operational and development objectives.

Christopher Baldwin has been named president and COO at BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., putting the former Hess Retail CEO in position to succeed Laura Sen as CEO of the 208 unit warehouse club chain.

Seattle – The flop of Amazon’s Fire smartphone device last year continues to have repercussions.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon has laid off dozens of employees who worked on developing Fire at its Lab126 innovation center in Silicon Valley.

Moorestown, N.J. – Destination Maternity Corp. swung to a loss in a generally difficult second quarter of fiscal 2015.

Costs related to store closures and headquarters relocation helped drive the retailer to a net loss of $2.68 million from net income of $321,000 a year earlier.

Dallas – Some major retailers are participating in the 30th Retailing Summit conference hosted by The Texas A&M University’s Center for Retailing Studies at Mays Business School.

Marvin Ellison, the new CEO of The J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and Barry Beck, co-founder and COO of Bluemercury, which was recently purchased by Macy’s, will be among the speakers at the conference, held Oct. 8-9 at the Westin Galleria in Dallas.

Irving, Texas – Better timing of distribution expenses, the elimination of operating costs of 40 shuttered stores and an improved merchandising strategy helped drive sales growth at Michaels in the second quarter.

The retailer posted net income of $35.7 million in the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $48.6 million in the same period a year earlier.

Bolingbrook, Ill. -- Fast-growing Ulta Beauty shows no signs of losing its momentum as the specialty retailer reported better than-expected results for the second quarter and raised its guidance.

On its quarterly earnings call, Ulta said it will launch a national television advertising campaign.

Ulta’s net profits increased 8.5% to $74.2 million, from $60.8 million in the year-ago period, helped by an improved online assortment and less overall discounting.