International Business

New York – Japanese retailer Uniqlo continues its U.S. expansion with plans open its first-ever stores in the Seattle, Denver and Washington, D.C., metro areas.

In the state of Washington, the retailer will open a 13,000-sq.-ft. location at Seattle’s The Bellevue Collection this fall. In spring/summer 2015, the retailer will open a 10,000-sq.-ft. store at Tyson's Corner Center, and a 22,000-sq.-ft. store on Denver's 16th Street, at The Denver Pavilions.

City of Commerce, Calif. – 99 Cents Only Stores is opening nine new stores in California between April 9 and April 11. The stores will be located in the communities of San Luis Obispo, Ontario, Sonora, Santee, Escondido, Tustin, San Bernardino, Cypress and South El Monte.

99 Cents Only currently operates 384 stores located in California, Texas, Arizona & Nevada.
 

Boston - Dessange International, owner of Fantastic Sams, Camille Albane and Dessange franchise brands, has promoted Linda Chadwick to president and CEO of Dessange Group North America. Chadwick had previously been the president and COO of Fantastic Sams.

Chadwick will lead Dessange International’s North American expansion of its three salon franchise brands. A veteran franchising executive, Chadwick spent more than 20 years at Burger King Corp., including three years as VP of franchise operations.

Lexmark’s evolution into a business information services giant got a boost Tuesday when the company unveiled a rebranding.

The company announced that its Perceptive Software division will switch to the Lexmark name, although its products will remain under the Perceptive banner. The move brings all of Lexmark's recent worldwide acquisitions of business information and software companies under the company's one name.

A big jump in digital sales and the integration of Saks Fifth Avenue helped Hudson’s Bay Co. post a larger increase in profit in the fourth quarter.

Global cross-border e-commerce provider BorderFree has a new chief marketing officer.

The company announced that Jonathan Kapplow will be responsible for all marketing functions at the company, driving preference and action for both B2C and B2B constituents.

Tokyo – The Cool Japan Fund, a fund mostly supported by Japanese taxpayers and linked to Japan’s government, will reportedly invest $2.18 million in a chain of U.S. green tea cafes. According to Reuters, the Cool Japan Fund will take a 49.9% stake in Green Tea World USA Inc.

Green Tea World plans to open its first tea café in California later in 2015. The company intends to open 50 stores in California cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose in the next decade. Beverages will sell for $3 to $4 each.

New York -- Watch out Teavana, Canada’s David’s Tea Inc. is looking to boost its U.S. presence. The Quebec-based chain has filed a registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO in which it looks to raise a maximum of $75 million. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq with the ticker symbol "DTEA.”

New York -- Legendary Manhattan off-price retailer Century 21 will open its first store outside its Northeast home base, at Sawgrass Mills, Sunrise, Florida. The 85,000-sq.-ft. store is set to open in the fall of 2016.

Dallas -- SRS Real Estate Partners has appointed Woody McMinn as president of North American brokerage in the Dallas corporate headquarters office. In his newly created position for SRS, McMinn will be responsible for North American brokerage operations, leading market leaders and their respective teams, encouraging collaboration across markets and leading recruiting efforts to grow brokerage, offices, operations and productivity.