Labor & Employment

Petco has added two key leaders to its executive ranks and expanded the role of its supply chain chief.

The company announced that it has hired Jodi Watson as senior VP, Petco Direct, and Spencer Insolia as VP, Petco and president, Doctors Foster & Smith. The company has also named John Carcasi as senior VP, supply chain & merchandise planning, expanding his previous role to encompass all supply chain and inventory related activity across the company.

Philadelphia -- CBRE Group announced that Steven H. Gartner has been appointed to managing director of retail for the Greater Pennsylvania Region. Gartner will lead CBRE’s retail brokerage platform throughout the region, driving growth and creating a cohesive and collaborative service offering for retail clients, as well as continue to actively maintain strategic client relationships both in Philadelphia and across the country.

Persistence has paid off at Ingles Market for Jim Lanning who was elevated to the role of CEO after joining the $3.8 billion supermarket chain 41 years earlier.

Asheville, NC.-based Ingles Markets named Lanning, 56, to the role of CEO, filling a position previously held by company Chairman Robert P. Ingle, II. Lanning will retain his position as president while Ingle, 47, will continue to serve as chairman and continue his day-to-day active operational role in the executive leadership of the company, according to a statement.

With the retail environment changing so rapidly today, and technology impacting everything a store does, the role of the chief financial officer has become more important than ever. When I started recruiting in 1990, the business was much simpler — we hired retail executives based on a linear skillset and departments operated in individual silos. Today, it is much more complex, as the C-suite works in collaboration to keep up with an increasingly savvy consumer.

So, what then do you look for in a CFO today?

Hy-Vee invested $3.6 million in a new training center for employees and to serve as a headquarters for the Hy-Vee Aisles Online, the company's online grocery division, KCCI Des Moines reported earlier this week. "We are excited to have a creative environment and innovative tools to help grow our future store leaders," stated Denise Broderick, VP education/training for Hy-Vee. "We understand that growing and improving our workforce is crucial to our company’s continued success.

Amazon.com is opening a state-of-the-art distribution center in Edgerton, Kansas, to fulfill orders for large items such as refrigerators or kayaks.

The company says the facility will create approximately 1,000 full-time hourly positions, plus many managerial and support roles to support customer fulfillment. In Kansas, Amazon currently operates facilities in Lenexa.

Francesca’s says its fourth quarter financial results show that the retailer's growth initiatives are bearing fruit, as the company posted a big jump in same store sales over the holidays.

For the fourth quarter ended Jan. 30, same store sales at Francesca's increased 11%. Net sales increased 25% to $134.6 million from $107.6 million in the prior year quarter. Net income totaled $14.7 million, compared to $6 million in the comparable prior year period. 

Five Below is accelerating new store growth again this year and has shared a long-range profit forecast indicating that the value-oriented teen and tween retailer expects accelerating growth to be a recurring theme.

A net increase of 71 new stores last year – on top of 62 units the prior year – enabled Five Below to increase sales 23.7% to $326.4 million in the fourth quarter and 22.3% to $832 million during the fiscal year ended Jan. 30. Also contributing to the top line growth was a fourth quarter same store sales increase of 3.6% and a full year increase of 3.4%.