Marketing

Woonsocket, R.I. -- CVS Caremark released its 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, which provides an overview of the company's commitments to environmental stewardship, improving patient health outcomes, ensuring its continued status as an employer of choice, and positively impacting people's lives through its social investments.

Dallas -- Zale Corp. announced the company’s CFO, Matt Appel, has been appointed as chief administrative officer. He will continue to serve as CFO.

Appel will be responsible for real estate, supply chain and logistics, merchandise planning and allocation, information technology, warranty, repair and credit products, as well as the ongoing management of Zale’s finance and control functions.

Secaucus, N.J. -- The Children's Place Retail Stores announced the appointment of Eric Bauer as COO. He will be responsible for supply chain, planning and allocation, store operations, finance, information technology and real estate.

Bauer most recently he spent eight years with The Gap, culminating in his appointment as executive VP brand operations COO, for Gap North America where he was responsible for finance, store operations, real estate, distribution, logistics, information technology and their Canadian operations.

NEW YORK —The unemployment rate in April edged up to 9.0%, compared with 8.8% in March 2011.

Construction employment was about unchanged in April, according to Friday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This industry has shown little net movement since early 2010, after having fallen sharply during the prior three years.

Overall, the economy added 244,000 jobs in April, a higher gain than anticipated by analysts.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill.  — Sears announced that it is launching its fourth annual Heroes at Home spring renovation campaign with Rebuilding Together, a nonprofit working to preserve affordable homeownership. Sears said that with the help of Rebuilding Together, it expects to renovate more than 300 homes across the country as part of the Heroes at Home program, which aims to improve American military families' lives by making necessary repairs, improvements or modifications to their homes.

ARLINGTON, Va.  — The Retail Industry Leaders Association announced that Bill Hughes has joined the association as SVP government relations. Hughes, a 27-year veteran of Capitol Hill, will serve as RILA’s top federal lobbyist.

BrandZ has released its list of the most valuable retail brands, and Target came in at number 5 out of 20 companies listed. According to the report, Target earned its spot by expanding its food selection and repositioning itself as a low-price leader and thereby countering the perception of it being a trendier, albeit pricier store than its competitors.

Out of the 100 global brands (including both retail and non-retail companies), Target came in at number 65.

Boulder, Col. -- Sunflower Farmers Market appointed Chris S. Sherrell as its CEO, the natural grocery chain announced Friday. He has worked with Sunflower since its inception in 2002 and most recently served as the company's president and COO.

Sherrell has served as the acting CEO since the middle of February, shortly after Michael Gilliland, the company's founder and then-CEO, was arrested in Phoenix following a prostitution sting operated by undercover Phoenix Police Department officers.

As thousands of retailers and shopping center owners and managers prepare to descend on Las Vegas for the International Council of Shopping Centers’ 2012 RECon conference May 22-25, we thought it appropriate to talk with a retail real estate expert about not only the state of the industry, but also what to expect from this year’s show. 

Senior editor Katherine Field talked with Mitchel S. Friedman, senior VP of New York City-based RCS Real Estate Advisors, to gain his insights about the show and the industry as a whole.

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores said that by the end of the year it will have invested the equivalent of approximately $756 million to expand its operations in Brazil.

Marcos Samaha, president of Wal-Mart's Brazilian subsidiary, said in a Tuesday statement that 1.2 billion reals ($755 million) will be used to build 80 stores, renovate existing locations and improve logistics.