Labor & Employment

DANBURY, Conn. — Ethan Allen Interiors has appointed Dave Moore as the company’s VP and chief brand officer.

“Ethan Allen has been here for over 80 years,” Ethan Allen’s chairman, president, and CEO Farooq Kathwari explains, “but we must do everything we can to make sure our brand is as relevant today and tomorrow as it has always been.”

Vornado Realty Trust chairman and CEO Steven Roth has resigned from J.C. Penney’s board of directors, according to a Reuters report. 

The article went on to say that Vornado, which owns office buildings and retail properties in New York and Washington, took a 9.9% stake in Penney at the same time that Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management bought a 16.5% stake in 2010 to push for big changes at the company.

New York -- Washington, D.C., Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed a controversial bill that would have required Wal-Mart Stores and other large retailers to pay their employees at least $12.50 an hour. The bill applied only to retailers with stores of 75,000 sq. ft. or larger, at least $1 billion in annual sales and non-unionized workforces.

Philadelphia -- Destination Maternity Corp. plans to relocate its corporate headquarters and distribution center from Philadelphia, to southern New Jersey.

The company's corporate office operations (which are currently split between its headquarters at North 5th Street in Philadelphia and its offices in the Philadelphia Navy Yard) will move twelve miles from the current 5th Street headquarters facility to a completely renovated 74,000-sq. ft. building in Moorestown, New Jersey. The chain expects the move to occur in fall 2014.

Corpus Christie, Texas -- Susser Holdings Corp. announced that Sam L. Susser has been appointed chairman of the board of directors of SUSS, effective immediately. He will retain his position as CEO of the company, which he has held since 1992.

Bruce W. Krysiak, the current board chairman, will become lead independent director.  

CINCINNATI — Kroger achieved its 39th consecutive quarter of positive identical supermarket sales, and is raising its guidance as a result.

The company's total sales for the second quarter ended Aug. 17 increased 4.6% to $22.7 billion in the second quarter compared with $21.7 billion for the same period last year. Total sales, excluding fuel, increased 3.9% in the second quarter over the same period last year. 

District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray this week vetoed one of the most wrong-headed regulations ever proposed and the nation’s two leading retail trade groups were quick to praise the action.

DULUTH, Ga. — AGCO, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and infrastructure, has appointed Roger Batkin as VP, general counsel. Batkin joined the company in 2000.

Walmart president and CEO Bill Simon prefaced his comments at the Goldman Sach Global Retailing Conference by saying he wouldn’t have much to say. That proved to not be the case as Simon said a lot about a wide range of subjects.
 

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar Stores announced that it has named Jeffrey W. Macak to the position of executive VP–supply chain.

For the last 13 years, Macak has served as VP-global supply chain for Bed Bath & Beyond, where he was responsible for the supply chain, logistics and distribution of goods for the company and its subsidiaries.