Labor & Employment

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.

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.

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%.

The latest retail security breach may have exposed personal information of workers, rather than customers. According to The Denver Channel, a payroll employee of Phoenix-based, 220-plus-store Sprouts Farmers Markets provided W-2 tax form information from an unspecified number of the retailer’s personnel in response to a request in a fraudulent “phishing” email claiming to be from a company executive. The FBI and IRS are investigating the breach with cooperation from Sprouts.

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.