Labor & Employment

Ikea’s U.S. expansion to bring it to another new market

Ikea is looking to open its first store in the state of Indiana.

The home furnishings giant is submitting plans to the City of Fishers, Indiana, to open a 296,000-sq.-ft. store 15 miles northwest of downtown Indianapolis.

Pending approvals, construction of the new Ikea could begin as early as summer 2016, with an opening in fall 2017.

Leo A Daly announced that Mary Schaffer has joined the firm’s Minneapolis office as director of architecture. In this role, she oversees scheduling, staffing, mentorship, and quality review for the office’s architectural services.

Shaffer joins Leo A Daly from the University of Minnesota, where she helped manage capital projects and oversee all aspects of design and planning.

She was also principal design project-manager for Target Corporation, where she led retail and corporate projects in India and the United States.

Macy's is adding a retail industry and corporate governance expert its board of directors.

The retailer has named Frank Blake, recently former chairman and chief executive officer of Home Depot, its board. Blake’s election increases the size of the board to 14 members.

Meijer is adding a new senior leader to its merchandising organization with more than 30 years of grocery experience.

Meijer has named Tod Pepin as the retailer’s senior VP of Foods.

For a variety of retailers – from supermarkets, to restaurants, to department and convenience stores – the holiday shopping season represents the peak time of year for staffing up on temporary workers to help meet all of the increase in consumer demand. However, the need to staff up may be even greater this year as some companies have already been operating with limited capacity given the nation-wide labor shortage.

Breaking the cycle of promotional ridiculousness at Jos. A. Bank is proving to be a far worse drag on sales and profits than parent company Men’s Wearhouse expected.

Men’s Wearhouse revealed the cost of breaking the promotional cycle at the acquired Jos. A. Bank stores on Nov. 6 when CEO Doug Ewert announced a huge downward revision to the combined company’s third quarter and full-year sales and profit outlook.

Ross Stores Inc. has hired away the chief merchant at Stein Mart to lead merchandising at DD's Discounts.

Ross Stores announced that Brian Morrow will join the company as president and CMO at DD's effective Dec. 7. Morrow will report directly to Barbara Rentler, the company's CEO, and be responsible for directing all aspects of merchandising at DD's Discounts.

The New York attorney general's office has reached a settlement with Lowe's to refund up to 10% of flooring installation fees paid by more than 16,000 customers. The Associated Press reports that Lowe’s, with 64 New York stores, overcharged the customers with a deceptive sales practice that it has since agreed to halt. The retailer had offered installation of carpeting, tile, wood and laminate flooring by third-party contractors at square-foot rates that were applied to materials bought, not those actually installed.

The New York attorney general's office has reached a settlement with Lowe's to refund up to 10% of flooring installation fees paid by more than 16,000 customers.

The Associated Press reports that Lowe’s, with 64 New York stores, overcharged the customers with a deceptive sales practice that it has since agreed to halt. The retailer had offered installation of carpeting, tile, wood and laminate flooring by third-party contractors at square-foot rates that were applied to materials bought, not those actually installed.

For a variety of retailers – from supermarkets, to restaurants, to department and convenience stores – the holiday shopping season represents the peak time of year for staffing up on temporary workers to help meet all of the increase in consumer demand.