International Business

MALIBU, Calif. — U.S. toymaker, Jakks Pacific announced the appointment of Jack McGrath as COO.

New York City -- Italian handbag maker Piero Guidi will open its first retail location in the United States, in New York City’s Soho district. The Soho store will be the company's fourth standalone store outside of Italy, following openings in China, Japan and Hong Kong.

DENVER and MONTREAL — Molson Coors Brewing Company announced that Torsten Kuenzlen, formerly president director of Coca-Cola’s Indonesia region, has joined as Molson Coors International's new CMO. Celso White, former VP and general manager, Americas concentrate operations at PepsiCo, has joined as MCI’s new chief supply chain Officer. In addition, Lee Reichert, formerly a partner with Lathrop & Gage LLP, has joined MCI as general counsel. All of the executives will be based in Denver, Colo.

In a second-quarter earnings season characterized by weather-depressed sales figures, Oak Brook, Ill.-based Ace Hardware Corp. managed to show a gain in revenues.

For the three months ended July 2, Ace saw revenues increase 0.5% to $1.021 billion. For the six-month period, sales increased 1.6% over the same two quarters in 2010.

Cape Town, South Africa -- A Tuesday report by Bloomberg said that Shoprite Holdings Ltd. has announced plans to speed up its store expansion this year as it faces increased competition from Wal-Mart Stores.

South Africa’s largest retailer by market value, Shoprite said it will add 106 stores by June 2012. That compares with 96 openings in the same period last year. The company currently operates 1,246 stores.

Talk about visibility. Target went way beyond the norm in the retail industry earlier this year when it said that within six or seven years sales would reach $100 billion and earnings per share would double to at least $8. Expressing such a long term outlook is not without considerable risk, chief among them is the rapid pace of change in the retail industry and the fact that the competitive landscape and the factors influencing consumer demand could look very different within six or seven years.

New York City -- Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, through his Inmobiliaria Carso SA investment fund, spent $8.8 million to up his stake in Saks, according to Bloomberg. 

Slim, who was Saks’s largest shareholder before the purchases and last acquired the New York-based retailer’s shares in April 2009, raised his stake to 16% from 15.7%, the report said. Slim has made it a practice to add to his investment holdings when the markets slump.

New York City -- David Campisi, CEO and president of Sports Authority has suddenly resigned after just 17 months in the position, according to The Denver Post and other newspapers. Campisi joined Sports Authority in 2004 and served in various executive roles prior to being named chief executive and president in 2010. No reason has been given for the departure.