Labor & Employment

As part of Chain Store Age’s lead-up coverage to RECon 2012, to be held May 20-23 in Las Vegas, we talked with Jones Lang LaSalle’s Lew Kornberg about what his expectations are for the big real estate show. Visit JLL’s booth at RECon, Central Hall, C1001.

What are your expectations for RECon 2012 in terms of activity, attitude, priorities?

WASHINGTON — Tanna Dang, a boutique owner in Honolulu, Hawaii was awarded the top $25,000 prize in the National Retail Federation’s inaugural “This is Retail” video contest. Florida’s Kim Williams of The Polka Dot press came in second place and will take home $15,000 and Illinois’ Susan Kaufman will take home $10,000 for third place. Nearly 1 million votes were cast by the public through NRF’s Retail Means Jobs website to choose the contest winners.

Rockville, Md. -- Divaris Real Estate, Virginia Beach, Va., said that Joseph Farina has been named manager of the firm’s Washington, D.C., regional office located in Rockville, Md.

Farina will focus on commercial sales and leasing services to support the expansion of DRE’s portfolio of leased and managed properties in the greater D.C., metropolitan area. 

MINNEAPOLIS — The president of Shoppers Food and Pharmacy will transition to a new role, parent company Supervalu announced Tuesday.

Lakeland, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets Inc. announced the promotion of Gino DiGrazia to VP finance.

In addition to his current responsibilities for business analysis and reporting, DiGrazia assumes many of the responsibilities previously held by Kelly Underhill, director of tax and treasury, who retired from Publix on March 30, 2012 after 22 years of dedicated service.
 

New York -- General economic conditions, U.S. and foreign supplier vendor concerns, and competition/consolidation are the top three risk factors cited by retailers, according to a new study by BDO USA, LLP, a leading accounting and consulting firm. Rounding out the top five: federal, state and local regulations, and terrorism, natural disasters and geo-political events.

PLANO, Texas —  From personnel changes to its new "fair and square" price strategy, JCPenney has put a lot into changing the company's image, and investors are waiting for it to pay off. For the first quarter, the company reported an adjusted net loss of $55 million or 25 cents per share, excluding markdowns taken as a result of the company's continuing efforts to reduce inventory levels to align with its new strategy, restructuring and management transition charges and non-cash qualified pension expense.

New York -- Retail financial chiefs are increasingly optimistic about economic prospects over the next 12 months and plan to pivot toward expansion and adding jobs, according to a survey by American Express.

The fifth annual American Express/CFO Research Global Business & Spending Monitor, a survey of 541 senior finance executives from the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia, revealed that investments in expanded operating capacity, research and development, and mergers and acquisitions are once again on the table.