Marketing

Tim White, SVP marketing at Fashion Bug, and a 30-year retail industry veteran, this week was inducted into the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association’s Advertising Hall of Fame. White is currently leading a team focused on building a brand identity at Fashion Bug that satisfies the clothing wants and needs of today value conscious woman. White spent the early part of his career with Kmart, ascending the ranks to become the lead marketing executive for Kmart’s launch of the super center initiative.

Matthews, N.C. -- Family Dollar will cut more than 100 jobs as part of a companywide restructuring. The cuts will occur in all divisions of the company, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. 

In a memo to employees, the company said the cuts will allow Family Dollar to make decisions more quickly and move faster to achieve its goals, according to the report.

The retailer is slated to open 300 stores in fiscal 2011, which began in September. It will renovate as many as 800 stores.

Chicago -- Jones Lang LaSalle said Friday that Cedric Thurman has joined the firm’s Corporate Retail Solutions practice. As senior VP, Thurman will focus on enhancing the firm’s ability to deliver profit-enhancing strategies to meet the retail industry’s growing demand for strategic outsourced real estate services.

Thurman is based out of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Chicago office, reporting to Lew Kornberg, managing director, Corporate Retail Solutions.

By Stephen Reily, [email protected]

You have almost certainly read or heard a dozen news stories this year that begin something like this: “The first Baby Boomer is turning 65 in 2011 . . .” 

If you are a chain store executive, here is the most important point about that fact: You should forget it.

New York — Ann Taylor Stores Corp. On Friday posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit on improved sales. The company, which said it will change its corporate name to Ann Inc. to better reflect its multichannel focus, also forecast strong first-quarter sales.

City of Commerce, Calif. — Discount store retailer 99 Cents Only Stores has received a proposal to take the company private from the company's founding family and investment firm Leonard Green & Partners LP for $19.09 per share, the Associated Press reported.

The offer would value the company at about $1.3 billion. According to 99 Cents, the purchasers would include the Schiffer-Gold family, which owns about 33% of its outstanding stock. David Gold is company founder and chairman, and his son-in-law Eric Schiffer is CEO.

Birmingham, Ala. — Hibbett Sports Inc. said Friday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income climbed 6% on higher sales. The sporting goods retailer also predicts its fiscal 2012 earnings will be in line with Wall Street's view.

Hibbett Sports reported net income of $12.5 million for the period ended Jan. 29, up from $11.8 million a year earlier, better than Wall Street expected.

Revenue rose 4% to $173.2 million from $166.8 million, but fell short of Wall Street's estimate of $174.2 million. Same-store sales rose 1.2%.

There have been dozens of books written about Walmart, but none from the perspective of Ron Loveless. He is an Arkansas native from a small town who was hired by Walmart founder Sam Walton in 1964. His first job was that of stock boy, but he would go on to hold positions of increased responsibility in operations and merchandising and was the executive charged with opening the first Sam’s Clubs in the early 80’s. Loveless retired in 1986.

Speaking at the Raymond James and Associates investor conference earlier this week in Orlando, Sam’s Club president and CEO Brian Cornell reaffirmed that Sam’s would achieve its first-quarter sales plan that calls for comp growth in the range of 1% to 3%.