International Business

With the financial picture improving modestly at Toys “R” Us, CEO Dave Brandon said the company is ready to build on third quarter successes during the final days of the holiday season.

Lillian Vernon, who grew a home business selling monogrammed pocketbooks and belts, into one of America's best-known mail-order businesses, died on Monday. She was 88.

Vernon and her family came to the United States in 1937 as Jewish immigrants from Germany fleeing Hitler. She was newly married and pregnant with her first child when she started her business in 1951.

The Lillian Vernon Corp. was the first company owned by a woman to be listed on the American Stock Exchange, in 1987, according to the New York Times.

Callison and RTKL have officially joined forces as CallisonRTKL.

The firm announced several senior-level appointments to launch its next level of growth:

Eric Lagerberg (New York) has been named executive VP and will serve as global practice group leader for retail stores and regional director of North America for CallisonRTKL.

The strong dollar’s influence on tourism and store traffic led the Neiman Marcus Group to report a decline in same-store sales for the first time in six years.

Destination Maternity Corp. has turned down an offer from a French company that disclosed a 13.1% stake in the U.S. company, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Monday.

The nation’s largest retailer of maternity apparel rejected an offer from children’s clothing company Orchestra-Premaman, which manufactures clothing for children and infants, saying the request for talks regarding a potential acquisition were not in the best interests of Destination Maternity shareholders.

The Ascena Retail Group is adding a seasoned retail CEO and a legal expert to its board of directors.

The parent company of Ann Taylor Loft, Ann and other banners announced three changes to its board of directors on Friday. Board member Klaus Eppler is retiring and Carl (“Chuck”) Rubin and Steven L. Kirshenbaum are joining the board.

Weak traffic at Saks 5th Avenue stores did not keep Hudson's Bay Company from reporting higher sales and profit in the third quarter.

For the third quarter ended Oct. 31, the company posted a profit of $1 million, compared with a $13 million loss a year earlier. Total sales increased 34% to $2.57 billion, up from $1.91 billion. Consolidated sales growth was 34.1%, up $653 million from prior year with same-store sales growth of 12.9%. But Saks Fifth Avenue logged a same store sales decrease of 3.6%.

Virginia, Beach, Va. -- Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust announced it has appointed John McAuliffe to the company's board of directors, effective Dec. 2. McAuliffe returns to the company's board of directors after having previously served from November 2012 until April 2013. McAuliffe has over 36 years' experience in the financial services industry. In April 2013, he resigned from the company's board of directors to focus his efforts on investment banking with Newbridge Securities Corporation.