Labor & Employment

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Borders Group executive VP and chief merchandising officer Michele Cloutier has resigned, Borders said in a late afternoon Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is the latest in a string of high-level departures from the bookseller as it struggles to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

On Thursday, the company received a deadline extension until mid-October to file a plan to restructure. An attorney for Borders said parts of the company could be sold in as quickly as two weeks.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. — NPD Group named Perry James, a 16-year veteran with the research firm, as the new president of home and office supplies. 

James replaces Peter Goldman, who moved on to a position within NPD as SVP technology analyst business. 

Before his current position, James was president of NPD’s office supplies and software businesses. From 2005 through 2007, he was with the home group on the business development side.

New York City -- Loehmann's Holdings announced  that Steven M. Newman has been appointed CEO.

Newman, who will also be a member of Loehmann's board of directors, will join the company in the second week of June. He assumes the CEO role from interim CEO Joe Melvin who will remain as COO of the company.

By Lindsey Lanzisero, [email protected] and Craig Rowley, [email protected]

Hingham, Mass. -- The Talbots reported Tuesday that first-quarter profit was $739,000, compared with a loss of $4.4 million in the year-ago period. However, net sales dropped 6% to $301.3 million, compared with $320.7 million in the same period last year, and consolidated same-store sales decreased 7.7%.

Results missed Wall Street estimates and the company has lowered its second quarter outlook.

Dayton, Ohio -- A report by the Dayton Business Journal said that the Liz Claiborne distribution center in West Chester, Ohio, will close within the next year.

Liz Claiborne said it plans to close and sell the 900,000-sq.-ft. DC due to “changing business needs,” company spokeswoman Dana Stambaugh told the Journal.

It takes a special type of person to work at Walmart, according to chief information officer Rollin Ford, who told those assembled at the company’s shareholders’ meeting that customer service is in their DNA.

Ford, a 28-year Walmart executive, was called into service for a brief presentation at the meeting to recount his experience of working at Walmart while founder Sam Walton was still alive, since most of the thousands of store associates and many of the executives who attended the event joined the company after Walton death nearly 20 years ago.

A lot of companies are content to conduct their annual meetings in a hotel ballroom near their headquarters, but not Target. This year the retailer and its senior executives are schlepping east to Pittsburgh where the company’s annual meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 8 at 1:30 p.m. at a store located about five miles east of downtown Pittsburgh at 6231 Penn Avenue. According to the company, “This location allows us to showcase our current general merchandise store design in the latter stages of construction prior to opening.”

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Borders Group executive VP and chief merchandising officer Michele Cloutier has resigned, Borders said in a late afternoon Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is the latest in a string of high-level departures from the bookseller as it struggles to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

On Thursday, the company received a deadline extension until mid-October to file a plan to restructure. An attorney for Borders said parts of the company could be sold in as quickly as two weeks.

Given all the talk of EDLP at Walmart’s annual shareholders’ meeting, it was understandable the company chose Maki Nakamura, chief merchandising officer at Walmart Japan, as the recipient of the Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Walmart’s Seiyu stores in Japan have been implementing every day low prices for several years, and the company’s patience has finally paid off with improved business results in what has been a challenging market.