Labor & Employment

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Outdoor lifestyle brand Eddie Bauer has named former Best Buy executive Steve Venegas as its new VP of distribution North America.

Venegas is a seasoned outdoor industry executive, most recently holding the position of VP of distribution for VF Outdoor, Inc., which includes brands such as the North Face, Reef, Lucy, Eagle Creek and JanSport.

WASHINGTON — An issue related to drawstrings has resulted in Bon-Ton agreeing to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $450,000.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission alleges that the fashion retailer knowingly failed to report to the commission that its children's hooded jackets and sweatshirts were sold with drawstrings through the hood. The penalty agreement has been provisionally accepted by the commission in a 3-0 vote.

Long time Fred Meyer executive Lynn Gust was named president of the 133 store Kroger division.

Gust, 59, joined Koriger in 1970 as a parcel clerk and most recently served as the company’s SVP of operations. Gust was appointed to that position in 2011 and prior to that he served as EVP of corporate merchandising and advertising. During his career Gust also served as vp of the Fred Meyer food group and SVP of store operations.

New York -- An issue related to drawstrings has resulted in Bon-Ton Stores agreeing to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $450,000.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission alleges that the fashion retailer knowingly failed to report to the commission that its children's hooded jackets and sweatshirts were sold with drawstrings through the hood. The penalty agreement has been provisionally accepted by the commission in a 3-0 vote.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. announced the promotion of Lynn Gust as president of the company's Fred Meyer Stores division. Gust, 59, has been senior VP operations since 2011.

“Lynn's long history with Fred Meyer and deep knowledge of our business will serve our customers well,” said Rodney McMullen, president and COO of Kroger. “His passion for our employees and customers make him a great fit to carry on the Fred Meyer tradition.”

New York -- Best Buy Co. on Friday said it agreed to extend the deadline to Feb. 28 for founder Richard Schulze to make a bid for the company.

The company said it is in the best interest of shareholders to let Schulze and his partners include results from the holiday season in their due diligence review.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — New York Mets baseball executive Paul DePodesta is the newest member of the Sears Holdings board.

Although his qualifications are somewhat unconventional, DePodesta was elected to the board because his experience as VP of player development and amateur scouting for the Mets is believe to help Sears Holdings in the area of personnel development.

Shoppers in many markets have to drive past one of Dollar General’s more than 10,000 stores before they get to their local Walmart, a situation that will intensify in 2013.

Dollar General is opening stores so fast its store count sometimes changes multiple times throughout the day. It surpassed 10,000 units earlier this year and by the end of the company third quarter on November 2, it had opened 479 out of 625 stores planned for 2012. Next year, 635 new units are planned and by the end of next year the company’s store count will be in the vicinity of 11,000 stores.

Cargo volumes at U.S. ports are forecast to increase 3.9% this month following a 5.6% decline in November. That’s the good news, but now retailers and suppliers have to worry about the possibility of a strike at East coast ports.

The strike by workers at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach negatively affected container volumes in November, but resolution of the strike after eight days meant disruption in December was limited to just two days, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report compiled by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates

New York -- After nearly a year of steady gains, the Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (Index) fell in November due to a slowdown in the rise of new home prices and an accelerating decline in real wages. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.