Marketing

Fairway has appointed Jack Murphy as CEO. Murphy was a co-founder of natural foods grocer Fresh Fields before it was sold to Whole Foods, and most recently served as CEO of Earth Fare, an organics and natural food chain with locations in the Southeast and Midwest.

Dublin, Calif. -- dd’s Discounts, a division of Ross Stores, Inc., will open a new store in the California Central Valley on Sept. 27. The store is located in the Shaw Village Shopping Center in Clovis.  

Including this new location, dd’s Discounts will operate approximately 150 locations in 13 states and is on schedule to complete its expansion plan to open approximately 20 locations in 2014.

GNC Holdings has appointed former Dick's Sporting Goods executive Jeffrey R. Hennion as EVP, chief marketing and e-commerce Officer, and former Office Depot executive Daisy Vanderlinde as chief human resource officer.

Additionally, Carl Seletz, GNC's SVP of international business development, will assume the additional responsibility of leading the company's domestic and international franchise operations.

Houston -- JLL announced it has expanded its retail tenant representation capabilities in Houston with the addition of Matt Parsons. In his new role, Parsons will be responsible for identifying and securing new space for expanding retailers in the market, and will partner with Mark Raines, who joined JLL in July to lead the firm’s Houston retail brokerage practice.



St. Louis -- Brown Shoe Company has invested $9 million in Jack Erwin, an online men’s shoe brand that launched last year. It’s Brown’s first investment in a startup.

Founded by Ariel Nelson and Lane Gerson, Jack Erwin creates high-quality men’s shoes, selling them directly to consumers for under $200 a pair.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) has appointed Sue Pifer as VP of compliance and Tiffin Shewmake as the director of the Center for Retail Compliance (CRC).

“The experience and skills that Sue and Tiffin possess make them uniquely suited for delivering exceptional value to our member companies on a broad range of compliance issues. We are excited to have them join the RILA team,” said RILA president Sandy Kennedy.

New York -- The nation’s three largest off-price retailers (TJX, Ross Stores and Burlington) will see above-average growth, in the 6%-8% range, over the next five years, compared with 4% growth for the broader retail industry, according to a new report by Moody's Investors Service. The leaders in the space have thousands of vendor relationships and significant scale, so supply constraints aren't likely to hinder their growth, the report noted.

Kroger plans to open three new fuel center locations this week — in Abingdon, Virginia; Decatur, Georgia; and Louisville, Kentucky — that bring the company's fuel center locations total to 2,000.  

Kroger operates 1,275 supermarket fuel centers and 725 convenience stores with fuel. Combined, the company sells fuel in 37 states and is the third-largest owner-operator of fuel centers in the United States.