Labor & Employment

Wegmans Food Markets has appointed a familiar name as its new chief executive.   Danny Wegman announced that he is stepping down as chief executive of the family-owned supermarket company and will be succeeded by his daughter, Colleen Wegman, who will serve as president and CEO.    Danny Wegman will assume the title of chairman.  

Rent-A-Center is taking another step toward repositioning the company for profitability.   The furniture retailer’s Acceptance Now division is terminating its referral agreement with Conn’s Appliances. These accounts consistently underperformed compared to the rest of its ANow portfolio in terms of delinquencies, losses and product returns.   

Going local is the big trend in retail center food and beverage options, so why not for retail brokerage houses?   That’s the tack CBRE is taking in its Seattle office with the hiring of two long-time leasing pros from Washington State-based Wallace Properties, which lays claim to scouting out the best locations from “Olympia to Bellingham and from Seattle to Spokane.”  

Murphy USA is losing its senior VP, retail operations.   Marn Cheng will resign from his position on April 30. During his 17-year tenure, Cheng has held various leadership roles within the operations team, including retail operations, fuel supply, ethanol production, customer and store support.   He is resigning for personal reasons, and plans to spend more time with family in both Malaysia and the United States, according to Murphy USA.  

Dollarama ended the year with a strong fourth quarter, an increase it credits to higher customer spending.   For the fourth quarter ended January 29, 2017, the Canadian discount retailer’s sales increased by 11.5% to $854.5 million. The chain’s gross margin was 41.4% of sales, compared to 40.8% of sales.  

The online giant is bolstering its fleet of warehouses in the Lone Star State.   Amazon’s newest fulfillment center will be in Katy, Texas — its 10th in the state. The 1 million sq ft. facility will employ 1,000 associates who will pick, pack and ship larger-sized customer items, such as music equipment, sports gear and electronics.  

Gordmans is being rescued from liquidation — at least, part of it.    Stage Stores won a bid to acquire about half of Gordmans’ stores. The Omaha, Nebraska-based department store chain filed for Chapter 11 on March 13.    The retailer’s bid edged out Jeff Gordman, the former CEO of Gordmans, who also made a play to revive the bankrupt 106-store department store chain.