Marketing

Teen and pre-teen retailer Five Below landed two senior executives from Walmart.com and Ascena Retail Group for key roles as it looks to accelerate an already rapid pace of growth.

Walmart.com president and CEO Joel Anderson will join Five Below as president in July to oversee all aspects of merchandising, stores and marketing. Eric Specter, most recently EVP and chief integration officer for Ascena, will serve as Five Below’s chief administrative officer and oversee supply chain, information technology and real estate.

Sunnyvale, Calif. – Business accelerator Plug and Play Tech Center and Simon Properties are hosting an event, “Silicon Valley Retail CMO Summit 2015,” Feb. 4-6, 2015 at Plug and Play’s headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. The event is open to chief marketing officers and other digital marketing decision-makers in the retail industry, and features expert speakers, a networking dinner, and an afternoon of themed start-up presentations.  

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Spend on prepaid gift cards is on the rise this holiday season, as a significant majority (70%) of shoppers plan to purchase gift cards this season, according to an interim holiday spending report released by Stored Value Solutions, a provider of gift cards and stored value services.   According to the report, 92% of shoppers plan to spend either the same amount or more on gift cards than they spent last year. And for the eighth straight year, gift cards have been the most desired holiday gift.

Walgreens said stronger sales from established stores helped it trump analyst expectations for the first quarter, even as the company's acquisition of European retailer Alliance Boots remains on track to close this month.

Walgreens reported a 16.4% lift in quarterly profit to $809 million that was credited to the 222 million prescriptions filled for the first quarter ended Nov. 30. 

New York - Macy’s knows the holiday spirit doesn’t suddenly fade on Dec. 26. The retailer is offering “Week of Wonderful,” a seven-day shopping event from Sunday, Dec. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 3.  During Macy’s ‘Week of Wonderful,’ customers will find a wide assortment of fresh products at affordable prices to usher in the New Year.   

Chain Store Age wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday!  Our offices will be closed Wednesday, December 24th,  Thursday, December 25th and Friday, December, December 26th.  We will return to normal business hours on Monday, December 29th.  We wish you and your family a joyous and peaceful holiday season!

Michael Huseby was named CEO at Barnes and Noble after previously serving briefly as the retailer’s CFO and then president.

Huseby will also serve on the company’s board and oversee the 673 store retail group led by CEO Mitchell Klipper and the 695 store college group led by CEO Max Roberts. Huseby joined Barnes & Noble in March 2012 as CFO and was named president in July 2013.

The board of directors of Fred's Super Dollar on Thursday named Jerry Shore CEO of the company. Shore's promotion follows the board's receipt and acceptance of notification by Bruce Efird of his intention to leave the company upon the expiration of his employment contract.