Labor & Employment

Wal-Mart and other retailers who operate stores in Canada’s Quebec province are going to have make some changes to their store signage.

The Quebec government plans to modify the language laws of the province, where French is the predominant language, to add French to their exterior signage. Companies, however, will not have to change their trademarks.

Publix Super Markets on Monday turned in another winning revenue performance, reporting $8.7 billion in sales for its first quarter, up 4.5% from $8.3 billion in the year ago period. Same-store sales rose 3.3%.

Net earnings were up to $581.9 million, up 6% over the same period last year.

It was the first quarterly report issued under new CEO Todd Jones. Former chief executive Ed Crenshaw retired Friday after 42 years with the company and nearly eight as CEO.

Sheetz is putting the “help wanted” sign out.

Photo: Erik Westedt, left, and Scott Kaplan have joined JLL’s growing Southern California team.

Haverty Furniture Company has been around since the late 19th century, but the specialty furniture retailer has a decidedly 21st-century approach to energy management.

“We want Havertys to be the company everyone wants to come work for,” said Rawson Haverty Jr., senior VP real estate and development, Havertys, during a session at Chain Store Age’s SPECS 2016 Conference, March 13-15, in Dallas.

Environmental stewardship, and thus energy conservation, is on the Atlanta-based furniture retailer’s list of 10 core values, Haverty explained.

An announcement by Target on its website saying it that would allow employees and customers to choose the restroom and fitting room that corresponded with their gender identities has thrust the chain into the middle of a contentious national debate.

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?

Although the construction industry lags other major verticals in IT spending, technology is still having a dramatic impact on the practice.

“We are at the intersection of technology and buildings,” said James M. Benham, CEO of construction technology firm JBKnowledge.