Labor & Employment

Broomfield, Colo. -- Famous Brands International, the parent company of TCBY Yogurt and Mrs. Fields Cookies, has appointed David Bloom to the position of senior VP of strategic development, effective immediately. Bloom has been serving as the chief development officer for Hurricane Grill & Wings since June 2012.

Famous Brands also announced the following promotions: Dustin Finkel to VP of marketing; Belinda Oakley to VP of operations; and Cassie Alvey to VP of Mrs. Fields gifting.

New York — Faith Hop Consolo, chairman of Douglas Elliman’s Retail Group has taken her seat as a member of the 2014 board of directors of the Commercial Real Estate Women’s (CREW) Network on Oct. 9, at CREW Network’s annual Convention and Fall Council Meeting in Dallas. Her term begins January 1, 2014.

CREW Network is the largest commercial real estate association for women and represents approximately 8,200 women leaders in 74 markets throughout the U.S. and Canada.

West Chester, Pa. - Dr. Ulrich Flatten will retire as CEO, QVC Germany at the end of the year, after 12 years of service to the company. Under his leadership, Germany has developed into QVC's largest European business and its second largest business outside of the United States.

Pleasanton, Calif. – Safeway Inc. saw its net income plunge 58% from $157 million to $65.8 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2013, amid a software impairment charge, higher theft and lower property gains. Results, however, beat expectations however.

Sales grew 1.1% from $8.52 billion to $8.62 billion, driven by a 1.9% improvement in same-store sales.

Lumber Liquidators spokesman Clint Roberts responded to sister publication HCN's requests for comment regarding the ongoing federal investigation into its sourcing practices. Multiple reports have suggested that the investigation is linked to the Environmental Investigation Agency, which claims the retailer is purchasing wood illegally in protected forests in Far East Russia.

Columbus, Ohio - The previously announced offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of unsecured senior notes due 2023 from L Brands (formerly knows as Limited Brands) has priced at 100% of the aggregate principal amount with a coupon of 5.625%. The sale of the 2023 notes was underwritten by BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities LLC as joint book-running managers.

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Another deadly fire has reportedly hit a garment factory in Bangladesh. According to Bloomberg, an Oct. 8 blaze at a garment factory near the Bangladesh capital city of Dhaka killed 10 workers and injured more than 50.

Walgreens has fine-tuned its management structure, most notably elevating Jim Jensen to VP daily living implementation and space planning, where he will be looking at maximizing merchandising initiatives against space optimization in the stores.

Moe Alkemade will assume the role of general merchandise manager handling seasonal, sundries and consumables. Beth Stiller has been named group VP retail brands and global sourcing.

All appointments are effective Nov. 4.