Labor & Employment

Regional discounter ALCO Stores succumbed to market pressures and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The operator of 198 stores in 23 states was founded in 1901 and sought to serve small underserved markets with a broad range of value priced merchandise.

Coppell, Texas -- Alco Stores Inc. on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with plans to liquidate or sell the business.    The 113-year-old retailer and its subsidiary, Alco Holdings Ltd Liability Co., filed voluntary petitions for relief in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.  It listed assets of $221.7 million and debt of $161.6 million.  

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney on Monday appointed Marvin Ellison president and CEO-designee, effective Nov. 1. Ellison, executive VP of stores for Home Depot, will also join the company’s board of directors.

Ellison, 49, will succeed Mike Ullman, III, as CEO of Penney on Aug. 1, 2015, when Ullman will become executive chairman of the board for one year.

Washington, D.C. - Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to see a final surge and set a new monthly record in October as the holiday season approaches. According to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates, import volume at U.S. ports covered by the Global Port Tracker report is expected to total 1.53 million containers in October, topping the 1.52 million monthly record set in August.   

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Edina, Minn. – Payment systems at 395 Dairy Queen stores and one Orange Julius store across the U.S. have been hit by a cyber attack that exposed payment card customer names, numbers and expiration dates. The company has no evidence that other customer personal information, such as Social Security numbers, PINs or email addresses, was compromised as a result of this malware infection.   

While merchants have spent the past nine months developing plans to drive holiday sales, another group of retail executives has been preparing to deal with the dark side of Christmas.