Marketing

A former Walmart executive has joined with a real estate executive to expand New York City-based luxury home décor retailer Gracious Home.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that Target laid off 140 staffers and eliminated 50 open positions at its headquarters on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, the eliminated positions were in places “we identified redundancies or opportunities for greater efficiencies,” Molly Snyder, a Target spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail. 

Read more by clicking here.

No great surprise that Walmart sits atop the Fortune 500 list of the world’s largest companies with its annual revenues of $485.6 billion.

Naturally, that raises familiar questions about future growth which were addressed by president and CEO Doug McMillon.

According to Fortune, Walmart is a crossroads as it transitions from the big-box era that propelled it to the world's largest company, to one in which customers are fussier about what they eat and can easily comparison shop thanks to the internet.

Fort Worth, Texas -- There was good news in Pier 1 Imports’ first quarter performance, including a 2% increase in same-store sales.

The retailer reported net income of $6.9 million for the quarter, ended May 30, down from $15.1 million in the year-ago period. Its results were in line with expectations.  

Dedham, Mass. – The Legacy Place shopping center is opening an Eddie Bauer location on July 2. The Legacy Place store will feature outerwear, apparel, footwear, gear, and accessories for men and women.

“Eddie Bauer not only enhances the overall merchandise mix of the center, it also adds another reason to make Legacy Place your first choice shopping destination” said Beth Winbourne, general manager, Legacy Place.

Dallas - Justin Lambeth has been appointed as chief marketing officer of Corner Bakery Café.

Lambeth joins Corner Bakery Cafe following several leadership roles at PepsiCo Inc., where he was responsible for marketing, consumer engagement and shopper marketing for the company's Quaker Division as chief marketing officer.

Prior to his work with the Quaker division, Lambeth held the role of VP at Frito-Lay, as well as leadership roles at H.J. Heinz and Nabisco Inc.
 

Brooklyn, N.Y. - Home furnishings retailer West Elm has named Johanna Uurasjarvi as senior VP of design, responsible for guiding the overall creative direction of the West Elm brand across its retail, catalog and online channels. She will lead the product design team and report to West Elm president Jim Brett.

Albany, N.Y. - Scott Hoffman has been named chief merchandising officer of Trans World Entertainment Corp., owner of the FYE music/video/video game chain. In his new role, Hoffman will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of merchandising strategy.

San Francisco - Petco is launching a new on-demand delivery service called PetcoNow, in partnership with Instacart. PetcoNow gives pet owners the ability order from  selection of approximately 13,000 Petco products, delivered directly to their door in as little as one hour.

A search is underway for a new CEO to execute a massive transformation at one of the world’s largest retailers. Getting to the interview will require U.S. executives to take a very long flight and the successful applicant will need good listening skills to decipher the accent of co-workers.